Covid-19 vaccines will work against the new variants of the virus and there is no evidence that current vaccines will fail to protect against the SARS-CoV-2 mutants reported from UK or South Africa, the Indian government said today.

India today successfully wrapped up a two-day dry run of the Covid-19 vaccination drive that will cover an estimated 30 crore people in the first phase including health workers, frontline workers and people above the age of 50.

An alleged Indian smuggler was shot dead at Suryapur Dumnikura border area under Halaughat upazila of Mymensingh early today.

India found a total of six cases of the mutated coronavirus strain detected in the United Kingdom among the London returnees to the country.

Authorities in India’s northern state of Punjab are investigating whether protesting farmers were disrupting power supply to hundreds of telecom towers amid protests over new farm laws.

Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Vikram K Doraiswami has said they want to move “very quickly” on water sharing of six common rivers during the 50th celebration of Bangladesh-India diplomatic relations.

Leaders of Indian farmers’ unions have agreed to meet ministers, possibly paving the way for a seventh round of talks with the government which has so far failed to mollify growers who say three new agricultural laws threaten their livelihoods.

India’s government detained at least 75 Kashmiri political leaders and activists to forestall political unrest after an alliance of Kashmir’s regional political parties won a local election, leaders and a police official have said.

India’s first driverless train operations on Delhi Metro network will begin its journey on Monday (December 28).

Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Vikram K Doraiswami today laid emphasis on an increased collaboration between Bangladeshi and Indian young artists to put together new ideas of art and reach out to more people through art.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that protests by farmers against three laws brought by his government were politically motivated, as he touted the success of an agricultural scheme launched last year.

Passengers flying into India’s biggest airports on Wednesday complained of long waits and confusion as authorities sought to impose rules to try to stop the spread of a new more transmissible variant of the coronavirus.

India is likely to approve Oxford/AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine for emergency use by next week after its local manufacturer submitted additional data sought by authorities, two sources with knowledge of the matter have told Reuters.

Toxic air killed more people in India in 2019 than in 2017, The Lancet said in a report shared by the government on Tuesday, with 1.67 million deaths accounting for 18% of all fatalities.

At least 20 passengers arriving in Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai airports in India from the UK, where a new coronavirus strain has sparked alarm, tested positive for Covid-19 between Sunday and Tuesday, officials have said.

Senior Indian scientists have said the Covid-19 mutations can be addressed by the vaccines which are being developed across the world and are unlikely to affect India’s vaccine strategy.

Tens of thousands of Indian farmers, protesting over agricultural laws that they say threaten their livelihoods, have vowed to carry on their around-the-clock sit-ins despite cold weather that has already led to some deaths among them.

India today announced suspension of all flights to and from the United Kingdom from December 23 to December 31 in the wake of a mutated rapidly-spreading strain of coronavirus in that country.

Indian Home Minister Amit Shah has said the rules for implementation of the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Act have not yet been framed and the matter will be considered once Covid-19 vaccination starts in the country and the virus transmission chain breaks, reports our New Delhi correspondent.

Indian authorities have called an urgent meeting of a key official committee to discuss the emergence of a mutated variant of the coronavirus in the UK, which spreads faster.