A sanitation worker in All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi today became India’s first person to be administered the first of the two-dose Covid-19 vaccine during the launch of the nationwide vaccination programme.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi today launched the rollout of the country’s Covid-19 vaccination drive, saying Indian vaccines were cheaper compared to others around the world.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch the start of pan-India rollout of Covid-19 vaccination drive tomorrow (Saturday) via video conferencing in what his office termed as the world’s largest inoculation programme.

An estimated three lakh healthcare workers will be given the coronavirus vaccine at 2,934 sites across India on the first day of the massive nationwide vaccination drive on January 16, official sources said today.

While India is rolling out Covishield and Covaxin vaccines against Covid-19 on January 16, its government has indicated that recipients of the jabs may not have the option to choose the one they want to be inoculated with.

Serum Institute of India will sell the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine to Bangladesh at $4 a dose, three sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters, about 47% more than India will pay for its inoculation campaign.

Indian airlines started delivering batches of Covid-19 vaccines nationwide yesterday, preparing for the launch of a campaign to offer shots to 1.3 billion people, in what officials call the world’s biggest vaccination drive.

In a significant ruling, India’s Supreme Court today stayed the implementation of three contentious farm sector reform laws till further orders.

Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said today that the government would have greater clarity on the export of Covid-19 vaccines from the country within the next few weeks.

The H5N8 strain of bird flu has spread to Delhi and Maharashtra, pushing the total number of Indian states hit by the disease to nine.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has said her government is making arrangements for providing Covid-19 vaccines free of cost to all the people of the state.

The Indian army has captured a Chinese soldier from eastern Ladakh, where the countries are locked in months long military standoff, Indian official sources said today.

Ten infants were killed as a fire broke out at the neonatal care section of a hospital in Bhandara district of Maharashtra in the wee hours of today, doctors said.

The first shipment of coronavirus vaccine Covishield developed by Oxford University-AstraZeneca and manufactured by Serum Institute of India is all set to reach Delhi tonight as India prepares to roll out the shots for nearly 30 crore people in the first phase.

The coronavirus-hit Indian economy is estimated to contract 7.7 percent in the 2020-21 financial year compared to the 4.2 percent growth in the previous fiscal mainly because of pandemic’s fallout, said government data released today.

Thousands of Indian farmers riding tractors today took out a march from protest sites bordering Delhi against three contentious farm sector reform laws passed by parliament last year, and vowed to intensify their agitation if their demand for repeal of the legislations was not met.

Board of Control for Cricket in India President and former Team India skipper Sourav Ganguly was discharged from Woodland Hospital in Kolkata today, five days after he suffered a “mild” heart attack.

A leading edible oil brand of India has temporarily withdrawn TV commercials featuring Sourav Ganguly, president of Board of Control for Cricket in India and former Indian cricket team captain, following his mild heart attack recently.

Several states across India have sounded an alert to contain the H5N8 strain of bird flu while Kerala began culling thousands of chickens and ducks.

Director-General of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus yesterday praised India’s action and its resolve to end the Covid-19 pandemic as the largest vaccine producer of the world.