NEW DELHI, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- India's top health research body, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), said Tuesday that people who are not wearing masks are driving the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.
"I wouldn't say younger or older people but I would say, irresponsible people, who are not using the masks and maintaining the social distance are the ones driving the pandemic in India," said Balram Bhargava, director general of ICMR.
He said three vaccine candidates are the frontrunners in the country.
"Three COVID-19 vaccines are ahead in the race in India. Serum Institute's vaccine is in phase 2(B) and phase 3 trials and Bharat Biotech and Zydus Cadila's vaccines have completed phase 1 trial," said Bhargava.
India on Tuesday reported 60,975 new cases and 848 deaths of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours. The number has pushed the nationwide infection tally to 3,167,323 including 58,390 fatalities. Enditem
