New Delhi, Aug 6 (IANS): The Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Friday held a discussion with Biological E Ltd. Managing Director Mahima Datla here.

The Minister was briefed on the progress of Biological's upcoming Covid vaccine Corbevax. He assured the government's support in the production of the Corbevax vaccine to combat the covid pandemic.

"Met Ms Mahima Datla, MD of @Biological_E, who briefed me on the progress of their upcoming #COVID19 vaccine, Corbevax. I assured all the Government support for the vaccine," said Mansukh Mandaviya in a tweet on Friday.

The Hyderabad based drug major Biological E will produce the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine. The company plans to produce 75 million to 80 million doses of its own vaccine in a month to boost the country's overall supplies. The vaccine has been developed with Baylor College of Medicine in Houston and Dynavax Technologies Corp.

Meanwhile, India's cumulative Covid-19 vaccination coverage crossed the landmark of 49 crore doses on Thursday.

Cumulatively, 49,53,27,595 vaccine doses have been administered through 57,64,712 sessions, as per the provisional report of the Union Health Ministry. A total of 57,97,808 vaccine doses were administered in the last 24 hours.

However, India continues to report over 40,000 fresh Covid-19 cases on a daily basis. India today reported more than 40,000 cases for the third day running. On Friday, a total of 44,643 fresh cases were reported in the last 24 hours. And a total of 463 persons succumbed to the corona infection in the same span of time in India, said the health bulletin released by the Health and Family Welfare Ministry.

However, India's recovery rate currently stands at 97.36 per cent. India's active Covid infection tally climbed to 4,14,159 on Friday. The active cases constitute 1.30 per cent of the total caseloads in India.