India on Tuesday recorded 28,903 new COVID-19 cases and 188 deaths, the Health Ministry’s data released on Wednesday showed. This has brought the country’s total virus tally to reach 11,438,734, along with 159,044 deaths.

There are 234,406 active COVID-19 cases in the country, while 11,045,284 have recovered.

Also read: 3 new COVID-19 variants from UK, South Africa, Brazil reported in India

969,021 samples were tested for the novel coronavirus on Tuesday, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said. Thus, 229,249,784 samples have been tested till March 16.

India started its mass vaccination drive against coronavirus on January 16. … people have received at least a single dose of either of the two vaccines approved by India.

Also read: COVID-19 origins report postponed, likely due next week: WHO

The two vaccines approved by India’s drug regulator for emergency use are — ‘Covaxin’ and ‘Covishiled’. Covaxin is India’s indigenous jab developed by Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech. Covishield is AstraZeneca’s vaccine, being manufactured at Pune-based Serum Institute.