Brazil's no to Covaxin

São Paulo: Indian pharmaceutical giant Bharat Biotech's ambitious plans to sell millions of doses of its highly-priced vaccine, Covaxin, to Brazil all but crashed after the National Health Surveillance Agency (ANVISA) decided to scrap the company's application for emergency use authorisation (EUA).

In a unanimous decision, the executive board of the Brazilian regulator declared that the application will no longer be evaluated. The decision, just a day after the Indian company announced the cancellation of its Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Precisa Medicamentos of Brazil, has now set the stage for termination of the $300-million deal for the supply of 20 million doses of Covaxin from India to Brazil, according to The Wire report.

India's cumulative Covid vaccine coverage has crossed the 43 crore mark, the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry announced on Sunday.

Cumulatively, 43,31,50,864 doses have been administered through 52,72,431 sessions, the Ministry said in a statement, adding that 51,18,210 shots were administered in the last 24 hours. India saw a slight rise in new Covid-19 cases reported in the last 24 hours with 39,742 more people testing positive, said the Ministry on Sunday. The cumulative caseload now stands at 3,13,71,901.

Further, the number of fatalities have seen a decline with 535 more people succumbing to the disease. The death toll due to coronavirus in India has risen to 4,20,551.

On the other hand, new recoveries marginally surpassed fresh cases with 39,972 getting discharged. The total number of discharges has reached 3,05,43,138 3,05,43,138.