India not to expand vaccine export amid COVID-19 spike

New Delhi: India will not expand export of vaccines for the next few months and will focus on meeting the domestic demand for coronavirus vaccines in view of surge in COVID-19 infections. So far, India has supplied 60.4 million dosed of coronavirus vaccines to around 80 countries.

The total supplies include vaccine doses sent as grant assistance, under commercial contract and through COVAX, which is a global initiative aimed at equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines.

India started supplying the vaccine doses to foreign countries on January 20 and the first countries to receive the vaccines were from the neighbourhood.

India recorded 47,262 fresh coronavirus cases in a day, the highest single-day rise so far in this year taking the nationwide tally to 1,17,34,058 as stated by the Health Ministry on Wednesday. The ministry also said that a new “double mutant” variant of COVID-19 was detected in Delhi, Maharashtra and some other places.