DW BUREAU/CHANDIGARH Haryana reported seventeen more deaths due to COVID-19 on Saturday, the state's second highest death toll in a day, even as another big spike of 750 fresh cases took the infection tally to 25,547, according to Health department's daily bulletin. Hardest-hit Faridabad and Gurgaon districts, which fall in the National Capital Region, reported five and two fatalities, respectively, the bulletin said. Two deaths each were reported from Ambala, Rewari and Rohtak districts while one fatality each was from Sonipat, Palwal, Nuh and Fatehabad, it said. Gurgaon and Faridabad together account for nearly 14,000 coronavirus cases and 223 of the total 344 fatalities in the state, according to the bulletin.Haryana had on Friday recorded its highest single-day spike of 795 cases, it said. The districts which reported fresh cases include Faridabad (139), Gurgaon (111), Ambala (96), Rohtak (56), Sonipat (46), Rewari (42), Hisar (40), Jhajjar (39), Panipat (35), Fatehabad (21) and Panchkula (20), according to the bulletin. The total active cases in the state are 5,885, while 19,318 people have so far been discharged after recovery from infection, it said. The human trial of Bharat Biotech's anti-COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin began at Rohtak's Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences on Friday, Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij said. The minister also said the vaccine has been administered to three persons who have shown no adverse effect to it. "Human trial with Corona vaccine (COVAXIN) of Bharat Biotech started at PGI Rohtak today," tweeted Vij, who is also the Home and Science & Technology minister. "Three subjects were enrolled today. All have tolerated the vaccine very well. There were no adverse effects," Vij further said in his tweet. The minister later told reporters in Ambala that "more vaccine candidates will be enrolled for the trial in coming days." Doctors at the Rohtak PGIMS, meanwhile, told reporters that three volunteers were administered the vaccine as part of the first phase of the clinical trial. They said the process might take six months, but over the next two-three months, the effect of the vaccine would be assessed from the antibodies generated and any adverse reaction caused, if any. The volunteers are in the age group of 30 to 40 years. The vaccine will now be administered to ten persons who like the three would be observed on a regular basis. With 34,884 people testing positive for coronavirus in the last 24 hours, India's COVID-19 caseload surged to 10,38,716 while 6,53,750 patients have recovered from the disease so far, according to data by the Union Health Ministry. The death toll due to COVID-19 rose to 26,273 with 671 fatalities reported in a day, the data updated at 8 am on Saturday showed. At present, there are 3,58,692 active cases in the country, while 6,53,750 people have recovered so far and one has migrated. "Around 62.94 per cent of patients have recovered so far," an official said. The total number of confirmed cases includes foreigners. This is the third consecutive day when the number of COVID-19 cases increased by more than 30,000. According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), a cumulative total of 1,34,33,742 samples have been tested for COVID-19 up to July 17 with 3,61,024 samples being tested on Friday. Of the 671 deaths reported in the last 24 hours, 258 are from Maharashtra, 115 from Karnataka, 79 from Tamil Nadu, 42 from Andhra Pradesh, 38 from Uttar Pradesh, 26 each from West Bengal and Delhi, 17 from Gujarat, nine each from Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab, and eight each from MP. (editor@dailyworld.in)