India on Friday registered 343,144 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, as per the Ministry of Health released data on Friday. During the same period, 4000 people lost their lives due to the deadly virus that has been ravaging the country during the second wave. The total death toll due to the disease now stands at 262,317.

There are 3.7 million active cases in a nation of 1.3 billion people, IBNS said.

Nearly 180 million people have been vaccinated so far, according to the Health Ministry. Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh account for 66.73 per cent of the cumulative doses, the ministry said.

Amidst this, the government has increased the gap between the first and second doses of the Covishield vaccine to 12-16 weeks - from the existing 6-8 weeks. This is for the second time in three months that Covishield dosage intervals have been widened.

States like Andhra Pradesh, Delhi and Karnataka have called for global tenders for procuring COVID-19 vaccines after witnessing a shortage of vaccines.

The central government and Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech have expressed willingness to invite other companies which want to produce Covaxin to help scale up its production, according to a top government advisor. "Companies that want to manufacture Covaxin, should do it together. The Centre will assist so that capacity is increased," NITI Aayog member Dr VK Paul said.