The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) in a statement Saturday announced its partnership with Bharat Biotech International Limited to develop a fully indigenous vaccine for COVID-19. The vaccine will be developed using virus strain isolated at ICMR's National Institute of Virology, Pune, the body said in a statement. Meanwhile, the number of Covid-19 cases in the country neared the 60,000 marks, including 1,981 deaths. While the number of active cases stood at 39,834, as many as 17,846 persons have recovered so far. The state of Maharashtra continues to remain the worst-affected with 19,063 cases and 731 deaths, followed by Gujarat. On the global front, the number of coronavirus cases approached 4 million with over 2,75,160 deaths. The US has recorded the most fatalities at 77,180, followed by the United Kingdom (31,316) and Italy (30,201).