India has provided more than 36 million doses of coronavirus vaccines to several countries, of which 6.75 million doses have been provided as granted assistance, a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MEA) told a news conference. On thursday.
“So far, we have provided a total of 36,194,000 doses to various countries. This includes 6,750,000 doses supplied under concession assistance and 29,444,000 doses under various commercial contracts,” said Anurag Srivastava, MEA spokesman.
India is the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer and has pledged to donate millions of doses to neighboring countries. The country’s Serum Institute is producing the vaccine developed in the UK by AstraZeneca for domestic and export use.
The supply of vaccines to countries will continue in phases in the coming weeks and months, while ensuring that domestic requirements for the national vaccination program are kept in mind, he added.
India sent consignments of doses of the Covid-19 vaccine as gifts to countries such as Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives, Mauritius, Seychelles, Sri Lanka, Bahrain, Oman, Afghanistan, Barbados and Dominica.
India also offered vaccines made locally to all members of the diplomatic corps (foreign missions) and their families based in the country, said Srivastava.
“It was offered not only to diplomats from countries, but also to UN agencies and intergovernmental organizations working in India. This campaign will cover all the locations where they are based, ”he said.
Countries that received vaccines through commercial contracts include Brazil, Morocco, Myanmar, Egypt, Algeria, South Africa, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.
New daily cases in India plummeted, dropping from a peak of more than 90,000 infections in September to just over 10,000 a day in February. On February 9, the capital Delhi informed zero virus deaths for the first time in almost nine months, according to COVID19INDIA, a website that aggregates Covid-19 data from official sources.