UK Covid LIVE: Deaths plunge by more than a third in a week as India passes 20m coronavirus cases

Volunteers treat patients at a makeshift clinic in New Delhi

(Getty Images)

A further four people have died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 as of Tuesday - with fatalities linked to the disease plunging 37 per cent in the past week.

Meanwhile the European Union's drug regulator has announced it has started a rolling review of China's Sinovac coronavirus vaccine to assess its effectiveness and safety, a first step toward possible approval for use in the 27-nation bloc.

The European Medicines Agency said on Tuesday that its decision to start the review is based on preliminary results from laboratory studies and clinical studies.

It comes as India's official count of coronavirus cases surpassed 20 million - nearly doubling in the past three months, while deaths officially have passed 220,000. The true numbers are believed to be far higher. Experts have warned that the coming weeks in the country of nearly 1.4 billion people will be “horrible”.