New Delhi: A total of ten vaccine candidates for novel coronavirus are under development in India, said the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) on Thursday.

The BIRAC, a Section 8 Company set up by the Union government's Department of Bio Technology (DBT) to nurture and promote the biotechnology industry in India, tweeted on Thursday, "10 Vaccine candidates are under development with support from DBT under the A@DBTIndia @BIRAC_2012 #COVID-19 Research Consortium."

It also said that the ten proposals have been recommended for funding under the COVID-19 Research Consortium Call.

BIRAC thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for allocating funds for the vaccine development. "Thank you Hon'ble Prime Minister for special fund for Vaccine Development.@DBT and @BIRAC have supported over 10 vaccine candidates."

The tweets were also retweeted by Health Minister Harsh Vardhan.

In the fight against COVID-19, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has fast-tracked the roll out of global 'Solidarity' trial launched by the World Health Organisation (WHO), to help find an effective treatment for the virus.

With 3,722 new cases reported in the last 24 hours, the COVID-19 tally in India reached 78,003, the Union Health Ministry stated on Thursday.

Of the total cases, 49,219 are active and 2,549 are fatalities while at least 26,234 people have recovered from the disease.