India has approved the COVID-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University, paving the way for a huge immunisation campaign in the world's second most populous country.
Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar told reporters on Saturday the vaccine had been approved on Friday, confirming what sources close to the matter had told Reuters.
It is the first COVID-19 vaccine to be approved for emergency use by India, which has the highest number of infections after the United States.
Javadekar said at least three more vaccines were waiting in line to be approved.
"India is perhaps the only country where at least four vaccines are getting ready," he said.
"One was approved yesterday for emergency use, Serum's COVISHIELD," he said, referring to the fact that the shot is being made locally by the Serum Institute of India (SII).
India has reported more than 10 million COVID-19 cases, though its rate of infection has come down significantly from a mid-September peak.
The country hopes to inoculate 300 million of its 1.35 billion people in the first six to eight months of 2021.
Israel bombarded northern Gaza overnight in some of the heaviest shelling in weeks, causing panic amongst residents and flattening neighbourhoods in an area from which the Israeli army had previously down its troops, residents said on Tuesday.
Russia launched a drone attack on Ukraine that injured seven people in the Black Sea port of Odesa, two of them children, and also targeted Kyiv, the capital, Ukraine's military officials said early on Tuesday.
A Delhi court on Tuesday extended the pre-trial detention of Indian opposition leader Arvind Kejriwal until May 7 in a corruption case, the legal news website Live Law reported.
Taiwan's quake-hit eastern county of Hualien was rattled by more than 200 aftershocks late on Monday and early on Tuesday, but only minor damage was reported and no casualties and major chipmaker TSMC said it saw no impact on operations.
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His Highness Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs has expressed his gratitude for the solidarity and support shown by the Pakistani government following challenging weather conditions last week.
UAE President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and the Austrian Chancellor, Karl Nehammer, have discussed the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the Gaza strip.