India has reached 10 million reported infections of the new coronavirus on Saturday.

It's much later than predicted as the pace of infection slows, despite many in the country giving upon masks and social distancing.

India is the second worst affected country in the world and hit a peak of nearly 98,000 daily reported cases in mid September.

But then daily infections slowed this month.

This helped widen its cap with the world's worst hit country, the United States, which has more than 16 million cases.

India expects to roll out vaccine soon and is considering emergency use request for three types of vaccine developed by AstraZeneca, Pfizer and local company Bharat Biotech.

Some health experts say the fall in cases suggest many Indians may have already developed virus antibodies through natural infection.

The National Capital Territory off Delhi said on Saturday its third and the worst search in cases has now ended.

A government appointed panel tasked with making projections has estimated that 60% of India's 1.35 billion people have already been infected with the virus.