A person who died due to the incineration of COVID-19, amid an increase in coronavirus cases across the country, at Nigam Bodh Crematorium in New Delhi on Wednesday, April 14, 2021. (Photo courtesy of Amit Mehra)

As India combats the acute shortage of coronavirus vaccines, US manufacturers Moderna and Pfizer are expected to provide some relief. Moderna will launch its single-dose vaccine in India next year and is in talks with Indian manufacturers, including Cipla, among others. Meanwhile, another US giant Pfizer is poised to offer five shots in the same 2021, but is calling for significant regulatory easing, sources told PTI.

Bharat Biotech said on Tuesday that it expects approval of Covaxin by the World Health Organization for the emergency use listing during July-September. The company said Covaxin’s regulatory approvals are in process in more than 60 countries, including the United States, Brazil and Hungary, among others.

Meanwhile, on Monday, 1,568 new cases were registered in Delhi, 1,037 in Bombay, 6,243 in Bengaluru, 2,979 in Calcutta and 4,041 in Chennai.

Covid patients will not be allowed to remain in domestic isolation in 18 districts of Maharashtra and must go to quarantine centers. The Maharashtra Health Minister said: “We have decided to stop the domestic isolation of Covid patients in 18 districts where the positivity rate is high. Patients in these districts will have to go to a quarantine center and not be “It will allow them to remain isolated at home.”

India recorded more than 1.96 lakh of new cases of Covid-19 in the last 24 hours ending 8am, bringing the country’s total infections to more than 2.69 million. The daily increase in new cases has fallen below 2 lakh after one month. Of these, more than 25 lakh are active cases, while more than 2.40 million people have recovered after giving positive. With 3,511 news deaths, the toll is already 3,07,231. This is the lowest rise since May 3rd. The fall is mainly due to Maharashtra registering a much smaller number of deaths.