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When health worker Neelam Kumari knocks on doors in Indian villages the occupants sometimes run out the back, terrified that she wants to vaccinate them against Covid-19. With India's devastating recent virus surge easing in cities, the deadly pandemic is ravaging the vast poverty-stricken rural hinterland. But here, ignorance and fear rule. ‘A lot of people in my village don't want to take the vaccine. They fear that they will die if they take it,’ Kumari told AFP in Dhatrath, a collection of two-storey buildings in Haryana state with buffaloes wandering the streets. ‘One of the villagers was so angry that he beat up a (health) worker who was trying to convince him to take the vaccine.’ Just 15 percent of people in rural areas, compared with 30 percent in towns and cities, have received at least one vaccine dose so far -- even though two-thirds of cases are being reported in the countryside, according to an analysis by The Hindu daily. Rumours are shared online or spread through messaging apps like WhatsApp. Fears that 5G causes Covid-19 led to mobile towers being attacked in Haryana. ‘People do not even step forward for testing as they think the government will declare them Covid-positive even if they are not,’ Shoeb Ali, a doctor in Miyaganj village in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, told AFP. - 'Deaths after shots' – This fear pervades despite the sight of bodies dumped in rivers and hundreds of shallow graves suggesting that Covid-19 is raging in India's hinterland where 70 percent of the 1.3-billion population lives. In Nuran Khera village in Haryana, residents are reluctant to get inoculated even though they said many households reported having fever -- and dozens of people dying. ‘Even after opening up a vaccine centre here, nobody is ready to take it,’ villager Rajesh Kumar, 45, told AFP. ‘I won't take the vaccine because it has many side effects. People get sick after getting vaccines.’ In other states, reports have emerged of people jumping into rivers or fleeing into forests just to escape mobile health teams. Hom Kumari, a health worker at Bhatau Jamalpur village in Uttar Pradesh, said some locals seemed impossible to convince. ‘What do we tell someone who says, 'If I'm destined to live, I will, even without the vaccine'?,’ she asked. Health facilities are also few and far between and some people believe that going to a public hospital is more dangerous than staying away. ‘People who went to hospital never came back,’ another villager in Nuran Khera, who gave his first name as Kuldip, told AFP. Kumar said that when his wife fell sick, a private clinic wanted 50,000 rupees ($700) in advance to treat her. A doctor at a public hospital said to take her home. ‘My neighbours started saying she has corona. They were frightened,’ he added. ‘I took care of her and on the third day she was back on her feet.’ - Communication key – Coronavirus has also dealt the Indian economy a heavy blow, and villagers are often more worried about making ends meet, said community health specialist Rajib Dasgupta. ‘It's extremely difficult to communicate why vaccination is important until some of those distressed conditions are alleviated,’ Dasgupta told AFP. Experts say that India needs to apply the lessons learnt in its polio vaccination campaign in the 2000s of children under five. The programme succeeded after trusted community leaders were involved to spread the message to parents that inoculation was safe. Using a similar approach, religious leaders in Uttar Pradesh were recently called in to encourage their followers to get vaccinated for coronavirus. Navneet Singh, who oversees immunisation efforts in Haryana's Jind district, says that face-to-face communication had helped ensure that nearly 70 percent of over-45s in Kalwa and neighbouring villages have received at least one shot. Kalwa health worker Sheela Devi said her ‘heart was pounding’ when her name was included in the vaccination list, but she was reassured when she saw the local doctor getting the shot. Now she works every day in the village, going door-to-door trying to talk people round, with some success. ‘Gradually they were convinced that even if they get corona after getting vaccinated, they won't need hospitalisation. They can take medicines and recover at home,’ the 45-year-old told AFP.  

The coronavirus variant first identified in India is highly infectious and can be caught by people who have already had the disease or been only partially vaccinated, a panel of Indian government scientists said in a report published yesterday. Dubbed the “delta variant” by the World Health Organisation, it is estimated to be 50% more transmissible than the coronavirus variant first found in Britain, researchers at Indian Sars-CoV-2 Genetics Consortium and the National Centre for Disease Control said. They warned that “prior infections...and partial vaccination are insufficient impediments to its spread, as seen in Delhi, and strong public health response will be needed globally for its containment.” The variant has spread to over 50 countries, including the Britain, where Prime Minister Boris Johnson has warned that its rapid spread could affect the reopening of the economy. India’s new cases have steadily declined in large cities over the past few weeks, but rural areas remain in the grip of a disastrous second wave of infections. Experts have warned that the country needs to ramp up the pace of vaccinations to avoid future surges in infections among its population of more than 1.3bn people. Under fire for a slow vaccine roll-out, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has been in talks with major foreign vaccine producers to boost supplies even as domestic manufacturers scramble to boost output. On Thursday, the US laid out a plan to share 25mn surplus Covid vaccine doses with countries including India. Experts and government officials have said vaccinations are key to opening up parts of the country that have been under lockdown for weeks. Some states such as Delhi and Modi’s home state of Gujarat are gradually loosening restrictions. In Gujarat, authorities allowed shops and other commercial establishments to remain open for longer hours from yesterday, the Gujarat government said. “With states showing restraint in reopening, the economic recovery from this virus wave will be more gradual than last year,” said Darren Aw, Asia Economist at Capital Economics in Singapore. “But the slow vaccine rollout means that rapid reopening would increase the threat of renewed virus outbreaks, potentially with more contagious variants.” India yesterday reported 132,364 new coronavirus infections over the last 24 hours, while deaths rose by 2,713 — the lowest in over a month.

India signed its first order for an unapproved Covid-19 vaccine yesterday, a day after criticism from the Supreme Court over its bungled vaccine rollout that has left millions of people vulnerable after almost 338,000 deaths. So far, only 4.7% of the 950mn adult population have been given two vaccine doses. The world’s second most populous country is reeling from a widespread second wave of infections that killed around 170,000 people in April and May alone. The government will buy 300mn vaccine doses from local firm Biological-E and has put down an advance of $205.6mn, the health ministry said, even though the vaccine is still going through phase III clinical trials. “The arrangement with Biological-E is part of the wider endeavour of the government of India to encourage indigenous vaccine manufacturers by providing them support in research & development and also financial support,” the ministry said in a statement. India has been inoculating its people with AstraZeneca shots produced at the Serum Institute of India, as well as Covaxin made by local firm Bharat Biotech, and is set to commercially launch Russia’s Sputnik V in mid-June. But supplies are running short after the government opened vaccinations to all adults last month. Some vaccination centres have had to close down, prompting criticism from the Supreme Court about a lack of planning. While the federal government gave free vaccines to the elderly and frontline workers, it left state governments and private hospitals to administer doses to people in the 18-45 age group at a price. “The policy of the central government of conducting free vaccination themselves for groups under the first two phases, and replacing it with paid vaccination...is, prima facie, arbitrary and irrational,” the Supreme Court said. The government said this week it could have as many as 10mn doses each day in July and August, up from just under 3mn now. Pressure is set to mount further on the government to speed up vaccinations, as several states prepare to ease economically damaging lockdowns even amid high numbers of daily infections and deaths. The western state of Maharashtra, home to financial hub Mumbai, is planning to lift most restrictions across 18 districts this month, based on availability of oxygen beds and infection rates, officials said. India yesterday announced 134,154 new infections over the past 24 hours, down more than 65% from a peak of 414,188 reported on May 7. The official recorded caseload since the start of the pandemic now stands at 28.4mn, the second-highest in the world after the US. India added 2,887 deaths overnight, pushing the overall toll to 337,989, the world’s third-highest toll after the US and Brazil. A spokesman for India’s foreign ministry yesterday said New Delhi was in dialogue with Washington to ensure a supply of raw materials for vaccine production. India also raised the issue during the recent US visit of its foreign minister, the spokesman said, adding: “It is in our mutual interest to combat the global pandemic by expediting vaccination efforts.” New Delhi’s high court has said that some federal officials should be charged with manslaughter over the halting vaccine rollout. “Who are they referring to, you think? This effectively concludes the debate on that subject,” Sanjay Jha, a former Congress official and political commentator, said on Twitter. “This government has failed. And failed its people miserably.”

Pirates kidnapped four Koreans and one Filipino crew member from a tuna-fishing vessel close to Benin in the Gulf of Guinea earlier this week, Ghanaian police said. The Gulf of Guinea, a key shipping route extending from Senegal to Angola, accounted for the vast majority of maritime crew abductions last year, with pirates targeting commercial vessels. The Ghana-registered boat was attacked on Tuesday although the Ghana navy recovered the vessel and rescued some crew members, Felix Charles Asare, crime officer for the Marine Police Unit told AFP late on Wednesday. ‘Efforts are under way to rescue the abducted crew members,’ he said. ‘Information we've gathered from the crew members indicate that the pirates took away five other members made up of four Koreans and a Filipino.’ He said Ghana's navy had been on the alert in the country's territorial waters as pirates intensified attacks. Armed pirates kidnapped five other seamen two weeks ago, stealing valuables after holding the crew for six hours before releasing them, he said. Major international shipping and maritime companies last month called for a coalition to combat piracy in the Gulf of Guinea, including signatories from Europe, Japan, China and India. Several EU nations often have naval vessels in the area, but pirate gangs, mostly Nigerians, are increasingly attacking beyond Nigeria's coastal waters, where they know ships are more vulnerable. The Gulf of Guinea accounted for more than 95 percent of global maritime kidnappings last year -- 130 out of 135 cases, according to the International Maritime Bureau, which monitors security at sea.  

India's government signed its first purchase order for unapproved Covid-19 vaccines on Thursday, a day after it faced criticism from the top judiciary about a bungled vaccine rollout that has left millions of people vulnerable. After a devastating second wave of infections that killed tens of thousands in April-May, the focus has shifted to urgently inoculating India's vast adult population to curb infections later this year. The government will buy 300 million doses from local firm Biological-E and has put down an advance of $205.6 million, the health ministry said, even though the vaccine is still undergoing phase-3 clinical trials, before approvals can be given. ‘The arrangement with M/s Biological-E is part of the wider endeavour of Government of India to encourage indigenous vaccine manufacturers by providing them support in Research & Development (R&D) and also financial support,’ the ministry said in a statement. India has been inoculating its people with the AstraZeneca vaccine produced locally at the Serum Institute of India (SII), Covaxin made by local firm Bharat Biotech and has begun rolling out Russia's Sputnik V. But supplies are running tight after the government opened vaccinations to all adults last month. Some vaccination centres have had to close down, prompting criticism from the Supreme Court about a lack of proper planning. While the federal government gave free vaccines to the elderly and frontline workers, it left it to state governments and private hospitals to administer doses to people in the 18 to 45 age group at a pre-determined price. ‘The policy of the central government for conducting free vaccination themselves for groups under the first 2 phases, and replacing it with paid vaccination...is, prima facie, arbitrary and irrational,’ the Supreme Court said. Younger people were just as vulnerable, as the second wave of infections had shown, the court said. It asked the government to review its vaccination policy, produce a roadmap and said the court could not be a silent spectator when the constitutional rights of the citizens were at risk. So far, about 4.7% of the country's 950 million adult population have been given both doses. The government said this week supplies are improving and it could have as many as 10 million doses each day in July and August, up from just under three million now. The Serum Institute of India has sought regulatory approval to make Russia's Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine, a senior government official said, on top of the AstraZeneca and Novavax Inc shots it is already producing. The federal drugs regulator did not immediately respond to a Reuters e-mail seeking comment. India announced on Thursday 134,154 new Covid-19 infections over the past 24 hours, still high but down more than 65% from a peak of 414,188 reported on May 7. The official recorded case load since the start of the pandemic now stands at 28.4 million.  

Low pay, 24-hour shifts and severe shortages of staff and protective gear have left many doctors on the frontlines of India’s brutal pandemic surge near breaking point and fearful for their lives. Coronavirus infections have killed at least 165,000 people in the vast South Asian nation — home to some of the world’s most densely populated cities — since the start of April. Although India’s latest Covid-19 surge has eased recently, around 3,000 people are still dying every day and the chronically underfunded healthcare system remains under severe pressure. “We are overworked, stressed and very frightened,” Radha Jain, a doctor in the capital New Delhi, said. The Indian Medical Association said more than 1,200 doctors have died of Covid since the start of the pandemic — including over 500 in the last two months. Deependra Garg, a doctor working in Delhi’s outskirts, knows first-hand how dire the situation has become. His wife Anubha, 48, a physician herself, fell ill with Covid in April. They started treatment at home but as her condition worsened, he — like so many other families — struggled to get a hospital bed. He eventually found one almost 200kms from their home. But Anubha — who was fully vaccinated — died within two weeks, leaving behind their 12-year-old daughter. “We are on the frontlines 24/7. We are exposed to a high virus load but we have to continue working against all odds as we have chosen this profession,” Garg said. “We do not have a choice.” The pandemic has exposed structural weaknesses in India’s healthcare system, particularly in the ill-equipped state-run hospitals. As the latest outbreak spread, reports emerged from short-staffed hospitals of patients lying on floors and sharing beds in packed wards, as family members protected with only cotton masks took care of their stricken loved ones. The government spends less than 2% of GDP on healthcare, one of the lowest rates in the world. India had just 0.8 doctors per 1,000 people in 2017 — around the same level as Iraq, according to the World Bank. The two other countries worst-hit by the coronavirus, Brazil and the US, had 2.2 and 2.6 respectively. A report from before the pandemic by the US-based Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics and Policy estimated that India needed 600,000 more doctors and 2mn extra nurses to meet its healthcare needs. Doctor Shekhar Kumar, working with a private hospital in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, said junior staff and final-year medical students sometimes had to work 24-hour shifts. “Compared to last year, this time patients are needing longer hospital stays which is increasing the burden on the staff,” Kumar said. He added that they were further stretched when their colleagues fell ill with the virus. Doctors said they had been traumatised by being forced to choose which patients to save first as they grappled with insufficient supplies of medicine and oxygen. Ravikant Singh, the founder of a charity group helping to set up Covid field hospitals, said he struggled to sleep some nights. “It’s been a life-changing situation for doctors,” Singh said. “The worst part was...we could not save many lives because of the lack of oxygen.” Even after completing their punishing shifts, doctors said they worried about infecting their families at home.

The Class XII examinations of the Indian Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) have been cancelled, it was announced yesterday following a review meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) also announced yesterday that it has cancelled the ISC class XII examinations due to the Covid-19 situation. “In view of the uncertain conditions due to Covid and the feedback obtained from various stakeholders, it was decided that the class XII board exams would not be held this year. It was also decided that CBSE will take steps to compile the results of class XII students as per a well-defined objective criteria in a time-bound manner,” the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement issued through the Press Information Bureau. Modi said the decision on the class 12 CBSE exams has been taken in the interest of students. He said Covid-19 has affected the academic calendar and the issue of board exams has been causing immense anxiety among students, parents and teachers, “which must be put to an end”. It was also decided that like last year, in case some students desire to take the exams, such an option would be provided to them by the CBSE as and when the situation becomes conducive. At the review meeting, officials gave a detailed presentation on the wide and extensive consultation held so far and views received from all stakeholders, including state governments. Modi said the Covid-19 situation is dynamic across the country. “While the numbers are coming down in the country and some states are managing the situation through effective micro-containment, some states have still opted for a lockdown. Students, parents and teachers are naturally worried about the health of the students in such a situation. The PM said students should not be forced to appear for exams in such a stressful situation,” the statement noted. The prime minister stressed that the health and safety of students is of utmost importance and there would be no compromise on this aspect. He said that in “today’s time, such exams cannot be the reason to put our youth at risk”. Modi also stressed that all stakeholders need to show sensitivity towards the students. He directed officials to ensure that the results are prepared in accordance with well-defined criteria, in a fair and time-bound manner. In a related notification, the CBSE said: “The board examinations for class XII, which were postponed vide Notification No. CBSE/CE/Exam.2021 dated April 14, 2021, are hereby cancelled. “Class XII assessment will be made as per well-defined objective criteria in a time-bound manner. It is decided that for any student who is not satisfied with the assessment, an option to appear in the examinations would be provided by CBSE as and when the situation becomes conducive.” Meanwhile, the CISCE said in a statement: “In view of the present situation of the Covid-19 pandemic in the country, the CISCE has decided to cancel the ISC (class XII) Year 2021 examination. The safety, health and well-being of our students, teaching faculty and all stakeholders is our topmost priority and of paramount interest.” India plans to triple Covid shots availability India could have as many as 10mn doses of Covid-19 vaccines available per day in July and August, compared with just under 3mn now, the government said, trying to allay concerns about shortages and mishandling of the programme. The world’s second most populous country has suffered a disastrous outbreak of infections since April that is only now abating and health experts say the only way it can avert another surge is mass vaccination of its 1.3bn people. “We don’t doubt that we will be able to increase the pace of vaccinations, once supply is ramped up,” government advisor V K Paul told reporters yesterday. Vaccine manufacturers such as Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech are scrambling to boost supplies, with the country is also in talks with major foreign vaccine producers such as Pfizer, officials have said. The health ministry said nearly 45mn people had been fully vaccinated — 4.7% of the country’s 950mn adult population.

In view of the uncertain conditions brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic in India and the feedback obtained from the various stakeholders, the CBSE Class XII board exams for 2021 were cancelled on Tuesday. The decision was taken after a key meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Cabinet ministers and the concerned officials. It was decided that the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) will take steps to compile the results of Class XII students as per a well-defined objective criteria in a time-bound manner, the PMO said. It was also decided that like last year, in case some students desire to take the exams, such an option would be provided to them by CBSE, as and when the situation becomes conducive. During Tuesday's meeting, the officials submitted a detailed presentation for the Prime Minister on the wide and extensive consultations held so far on the matter and the views received from all the stakeholders, including the state governments. Modi said that the decision on Class XII CBSE exams has been taken in the interest of the students, adding that Covid-19 has affected the academic calendar and the issue of board exams was causing immense anxiety among the students, parents and teachers, which had to come to an end. The Prime Minister said that the Covid situation is a dynamic situation across the country. While the numbers are coming down and some states are managing the situation through effective micro-containment measures, some states have opted for lockdowns. The students, parents and teachers are naturally worried about the health of the students in such a situation, Modi said, adding that the students should not be forced to appear for exams in such a stressful situation. The Prime Minister stressed that the health and safety of the students are of utmost importance and there would be no compromise on this aspect. He said that in today's time, such exams cannot be the reason to put the youth of the country at risk. The Prime Minister said that all the stakeholders need to show sensitivity for the students, as he directed the officials to ensure that the results are prepared in accordance with well-defined criteria, in a fair and time-bound manner. Referring to the wide consultative process, Modi expressed appreciation that a student-friendly decision has been reached after consulting all the stakeholders from across the length and breadth of the country. He also thanked the states for providing valuable feedback on this issue. The Prime Minister had earlier held a high-level meeting on the matter on May 21, which was attended by the ministers and concerned officials. Thereafter, a meeting under the chairmanship of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh was held on May 23. Various options for conducting the CBSE exams were discussed in the meeting and feedback was taken from the states and UTs. Tuesday's meeting was attended by Union Ministers of Home, Defence, Finance, Commerce, Information & Broadcasting, Petroleum and Women & Child Development ministries, the Principal Secretary to the PM, Cabinet Secretary and Secretaries of School Education & Higher Education Departments, among other officials.

India's Serum Institute will increase production of AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccines by nearly 40% in June, officials said on Monday, in the first step towards alleviating a shortage that has worsened the country's battle with coronavirus. The world's second most-populous nation has struggled with a catastrophic outbreak of Covid-19 since last month which is only now starting to abate after killing tens of thousands of people. Government officials and experts say the only way India can avoid a third wave of infections is by having most of its 1.3 billion population inoculated. The Serum Institute of India, the world's biggest manufacturer of vaccines, will make 90 million doses of AstraZeneca in June from about 65 million a month now, a company spokesman told Reuters. Most of the shots administered in India are AstraZeneca, but local firm Bharat Biotech also plans to ramp up production of its Covaxin vaccine to 23 million in June from about 10 million in April, a government official said. "There will be a gradual buildup of vaccines," said the official, who is involved in the approval of vaccines. Only about 3% of India's population is fully vaccinated and about 12% have got the first shot and are waiting for the second. State governments, including in the capital Delhi, have reported an acute shortage of vaccines and some are inoculating only the elderly and frontline workers. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has faced criticism for donating vaccines to neighbouring countries and further afield early this year as part of a diplomatic initiative. "The very possibility of a second wave was not considered serious enough, and all aspects of the pandemic response bore the brunt, including vaccination," the New Delhi-based Observer Research Foundation said in a report on the vaccine rollout on Monday. India reported its lowest daily rise in new coronavirus infections since April 11 on Monday at 152,734 cases over the past 24 hours, while deaths rose by 3,128. The South Asian nation's tally of infections now stands at 28 million, while the death toll has reached 329,100, health ministry data showed. Most experts believe the coronavirus infections and deaths are considerably undercounted. The New York Times said the most conservative estimate of deaths was 600,000 and the worst case scenario several times that number. The government has dismissed the assessments as absolutely false. Dr. Randeep Guleria, the head of the premier All India Institute of Medical Sciences based in New Delhi, said the pandemic was slowing in large parts of the country but it was not contained. "We seem to be past the peak, but there is a certain level of concern about the south and north eastern states," he said, stressing on the need for increased vaccinations. Russia's Sputnik V vaccine will also be launched in the Indian market next month, its local partner Dr Reddy's Laboratories said.

Indian authorities yesterday announced a tentative easing of the lockdown in the capital New Delhi as coronavirus infections fall in major cities after weeks of restrictions. Rural areas of the country are now seeing the brunt of a surge in cases that has overwhelmed the healthcare system and killed at least 160,000 people since the start of March. Arvind Kejriwal, Delhi’s chief minister, said that from Monday construction work and factories can resume, “keeping the poorest section of our society, the labourers and daily wage workers, in mind”. “We are starting the process of reopening very, very slowly. We will reassess it after a week based on experts and people’s opinions,” he said. Daily infections reported across India have more than halved from more than 400,000 earlier this month, according to official statistics. Deaths per day have also fallen but by much less, with 3,660 reported yesterday in the previous 24 hours. This is widely seen as a major underestimate. Delhi yesterday reported about 1,100 new infections, down from about 25,000 daily cases when the lockdown was announced six weeks earlier. Even as he announced the reopening from Monday, Kejriwal urged people of Delhi to “not step out of your homes unnecessarily”. “This is a very sensitive time and we have to function with full responsibility so that we can together save our Delhi and our country,” he said. The devastating surge was blamed on new virus variants and the government having allowed most activity to return to normal including mass religious and political gatherings. Coronavirus patients died in droves outside hospitals or at home because of a lack of beds, medical oxygen and drugs, prompting a flood of desperate pleas on social media. Since mid-April thousands of Covid-19 patients have also contracted the often deadly and usually very rare infection mucormycosis, or “black fungus”. Many other parts of India including the states of Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka are now also considering easing restrictions on activity. India’s vaccination programme meanwhile is making only slow progress due to shortages, confusion and squabbling between the central government and state authorities. So far about 160mn people, equivalent to only 12.5% of the Indian population, have received one dose, and 45mn, or 3.4%, two shots. India’s information and broadcasting minister Prakash Javadekar yesterday said the vaccination process would be completed by the end of the year. “Last week, the health ministry gave details in their press conference. They said that about 2.16bn vaccine doses will be available by December.  Around 1.08bn people will be vaccinated,” the minister said. “They (the health ministry) also shared a breakdown of vaccines that will be available — both locally manufactured and those that will come from outside,” Javadekar added. The crisis has put Prime Minister Narendra Modi under severe pressure, with critics accusing his government of being more focused on deflecting criticism than the pandemic. “I would request him (Modi) to stop worrying about his image and start worrying about the problem in front of him,” Rahul Gandhi from the main opposition Congress party said yesterday. “Which is now killing people and will probably end up killing millions of people.”

India yesterday scrapped local trials for “well-established” foreign coronavirus vaccines yesterday as it tries to accelerate its vaccination rollout, with a government official saying Pfizer shots could arrive by July. The world’s second-most populous country in May recorded its highest monthly Covid-19 death toll since the pandemic began last year, accounting for just over a third of the overall total. India reported 211,298 new infections yesterday, the world’s highest daily rise, but nearly half the daily infections it recorded earlier this month. The overall case load is now at 27.37mn, while deaths stand at 315,235, according to health ministry data. Experts believe that figure grossly underestimates the actual toll. Only about 3% of India’s 1.3bn people have been fully vaccinated, the lowest rate among the 10 countries with the most cases. India pledged last month to fast-track imports, but its insistence on local trials and a dispute over indemnity stalled discussions with Pfizer. “The provision has now been further amended to waive the trial requirement altogether for the well-established vaccines manufactured in other countries,” the government said in a statement. Yesterday’s move is set to speed up the arrival of Pfizer shots and those developed by Johnson & Johnson and Moderna, with which the government has held multiple discussions but met with little success. “Yes, we are engaged with Pfizer because they have indicated availability of a certain amount of, certain volume of vaccines in coming months, possibly starting in July,” Vinod Kumar Paul, a top government official, told a news briefing. He said the government was examining the company’s request to grant it legal protections against the use of its vaccine in India. “We are examining the request (for indemnity) and we will take a decision in the larger interest of people and on merit. This is under discussion but there is no decision as of now.” Pfizer “remains committed to continuing our engagement with the government of India towards making the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine available for use in the country”, a company representative said in a statement. Pfizer declined further comment, citing confidential discussions with the government. There was no immediate response from Moderna or Johnson & Johnson for requests for comment. India has been inoculating its people with the AstraZeneca vaccine produced locally at the Serum Institute of India (SII), Covaxin made by local firm Bharat Biotech and has begun rolling out Russia’s Sputnik V. Both SII and Bharat Biotech were ramping up production to produce 100mn-110mn doses in the coming months, Paul said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has faced mounting criticism for its failure to secure vaccines for its people as a devastating second wave rips through the vast hinterland. “This is governance failure since India is one of the biggest vaccine producers,” Kaushik Basu, a former chief economic adviser to the government, wrote on Twitter. “Good days will come but this vaccine lapse will be remembered.”

Thousands of people were homeless Thursday after a cyclone battered Covid-ravaged India and neighbouring Bangladesh, killing nine people including four children. Cyclones are a regular menace in the northern Indian Ocean but many scientists say they are becoming more frequent and severe as climate change warms sea temperatures. Barely a week after Cyclone Tauktae claimed at least 155 lives in western India, Cyclone Yaas forced the evacuation of more than 1.5 million people in the eastern states of West Bengal and Odisha. The storm hit on Wednesday with torrential rain and howling winds gusting up to 155 kilometres (96 miles) an hour, equivalent to a category two hurricane. Waves the size of double-decker buses pounded the shore and swamped towns and villages along the coastline, exacerbated by a higher-than-normal tide because of a full moon. Prabir Maity, a resident of a village close to the sea, told AFP: "I have lost my home, everything." Two people died in West Bengal, two in Odisha and five in neighbouring Bangladesh, officials said. In southern areas of Bangladesh, although not in Yaas's direct path, the sea smashed through water defences and inundated thousands of homes, officials said. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee said more than 300,000 homes were destroyed. "The water level in the sea and rivers started to swell to over three to four metres (nine to 12 feet) above the normal level and breached embankments in 135 places," Banerjee said. "Thousands of people are still marooned. We have set up 14,000 cyclone centres to provide shelter to the homeless," she said. Low-lying areas of state capital Kolkata were also flooded after the Hooghly river rose. West Bengal disaster management minister Javed Ahmed Khan told AFP that rescue efforts were being "complicated" by villagers refusing to leave their homes because of fears about coronavirus. "Water is everywhere. The situation is very grim," Arjun Manna, a resident of Kakdwip in the Sunderbans delta and nature reserve area, told AFP by phone. "The devastation is huge. Most hotels and markets are still inundated. The sea is still roaring," Diprodas Chatterjee from the Hoteliers' Association in the seaside town of Digha told AFP. "Employees who stayed back are telling a grim story," he said. Milan Mondal, a senior forest official, told AFP that the high waves had also swamped a crocodile breeding centre and tiger reserve project area in the Sunderbans. "At least five deer and a wild boar were rescued by forest officials," he said. "We are afraid that many crocodiles have left the breeding centre." In Odisha hundreds of trees were uprooted, some bringing down power lines, relief official Pradeep Kumar Jena said. Some thatched homes were also damaged during the storm, but telecommunication networks were not affected, he added. Yaas has since moved inland towards the state of Jharkhand, easing to a deep depression but bringing heavy rains.  

India’s government exceeded its legal powers by enacting rules that companies such as WhatsApp say will force them to break end-to-end message encryption, the messaging app owned by Facebook argued in a court filing. WhatsApp has filed a lawsuit in a Delhi court against the government to quash a provision of a new regulation that mandates companies to divulge the “first originator of information”, arguing in favour of protecting privacy. In a statement yesterday, WhatsApp said it would engage with the Indian government to find “practical solutions” and protect users, but its court filing shows it has taken a firmer stance against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration. The rule drafted by Modi’s IT ministry will lead to a “dangerous invasion of privacy” and was “unconstitutional”, WhatsApp argued in the 224-page court filing dated May 25 and which is not yet public. WhatsApp said the government’s new regulation exceeds the scope of its rule-making powers under Indian law, adding that it was a well-settled point that only parliament, not the federal government, could undertake essential legislative functions. “To satisfy the legality requirement, there must be a valid law allowing for the invasion of privacy,” said WhatsApp’s petition, which was signed by its counsel Brian Hennessy. In a statement, Modi’s government said the rules were as per the law of the land and WhatsApp’s filing was “unfortunate”. The WhatsApp lawsuit escalates a growing struggle between Modi’s government and tech giants including Facebook, Google’s parent Alphabet and Twitter in one of their key global growth markets.

At least three people died Wednesday as howling winds and waves the height of double-decker buses belted eastern India in the Covid-stricken country's second cyclone in as many weeks. Cyclones are a regular menace in the northern Indian Ocean but many scientists say they are becoming more frequent and severe as climate change warms the waters of the Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea. Barely a week after Cyclone Tauktae claimed at least 155 lives in western India, Cyclone Yaas has forced the evacuation of more than 1.5 million people in the eastern states of West Bengal and Odisha. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee said that the seaside town of Digha had been ‘swamped’ by waves up to four metres (13 feet) high. She said two people had been killed, including one dragged into the sea by the waves in Digha and another crushed when his house collapsed. The storm packed lashing rain and winds gusting up to 155 kilometres (95 miles) an hour, the equivalent to a category-two hurricane. ‘I have never seen such a storm ever in my life,’ said Purnendu Jana, a Digha resident. ‘The water may cross the main road for the first time.’ Local hotel owner Shiuli Das said: ‘Many of us are here, all of us are really scared.’ Nearly 20,000 houses were damaged and more than a dozen river islands were flooded with a number of embankments breached, Banerjee said. In Odisha there was also extensive damage with hundreds of trees uprooted although there was minimal damage to power infrastructure, relief official Pradeep Kumar Jena said. ‘We have received reports regarding the death of two people... Local officials are investigating the two incidents,’ Jena said. In neighbouring Bangladesh one man was killed by a falling tree as the waves smashed through water defences and inundated thousands of homes, officials told AFP. Locals feared the situation would worsen in the evening as the tide rises to a higher level than normal because of a full moon. ‘My house is already submerged under four feet of water. I don't know what will happen during the full moon tonight,’ Mostak Ahmed told AFP by phone from Khulna, in the country's south. - 'Terrible blow' - Almost 5,000 disaster workers were deployed in India with tree and wire cutters, emergency communications, inflatable boats and medical aid, the National Disaster Response Force said. Officials fear the emergency will further complicate efforts to halt a surge in coronavirus cases that has now killed 310,000 people. Masks were distributed in emergency shelters but West Bengal state minister Bankim Chandra Hazra told AFP that maintaining social distancing would be ‘a big challenge’. ‘This cyclone spells double trouble for millions of people in India as there is no respite from Covid-19,’ said Udaya Regmi from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. Some vaccination centres in threatened districts, as well as Kolkata, suspended operations and a special effort had been launched to ensure the supply of oxygen and medicines to hospitals, officials said. Some of the deadliest storms in history have formed in the Bay of Bengal, including one in 1970 that killed half a million people in what is now Bangladesh. Odisha's worst-ever cyclone, in 1999, killed 10,000 people. Last year Cyclone Amphan, the worst since then, caused widespread devastation but timely evacuations meant fatalities were fewer than 150.  

* Delhi suit argues rule violates constitutional privacy protection -sources * Argues change would mean ending encryption of messaging for all -sources * Modi govt's new rules on media due to take effect on Wednesday * Challenge escalates tensions between India govt and tech giants WhatsApp has filed a lawsuit in Delhi against the Indian government seeking to block regulations coming into force on Wednesday that experts say would compel the California-based Facebook unit to break privacy protections, sources said. The case, described to Reuters by people familiar with it, asks the Delhi High Court to declare that one of the new rules is a violation of privacy rights in India's constitution since it requires social media companies to identify the "first originator of information" when authorities demand it. While the law requires WhatsApp to unmask only people credibly accused of wrongdoing, the company says it cannot do that alone in practice. Because messages are end-to-end encrypted, to comply with the law WhatsApp says it would have break encryption for receivers, as well as "originators", of messages. Reuters, which first reported the story on Wednesday, could not independently confirm the complaint had been filed in court by WhatsApp, which has nearly 400 million users in India, nor when it might be reviewed by the court. The people with knowledge of the matter declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue. A WhatsApp spokesman declined to comment. A government official said WhatsApp could find a way to track originators of disinformation, a long-standing stance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government, and that the company was not being asked to break encryption. India's technology ministry did not respond to a request for comment. The lawsuit escalates a growing struggle between Modi's government and tech giants including Facebook, Google parent Alphabet and Twitter in one of their key global growth markets. Tensions grew after a police visit to Twitter's offices earlier this week. The micro-blogging service had labelled posts by a spokesman for the dominant party and others as containing "manipulated media", saying forged content was included. The government has also pressed the tech companies to remove not only what it has described as misinformation on the COVID-19 pandemic ravaging India, but also some criticism of the government's response to the crisis, which is claiming thousands of lives daily. The response of the companies to the new rules has been a subject of intense speculation since they were unveiled in February, 90 days before they were slated to go into effect. The Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code, promulgated by India's technology ministry, designates "significant social media intermediaries" as standing to lose protection from lawsuits and criminal prosecution if they fail to adhere to the code. WhatsApp, its parent Facebook and tech rivals have all invested heavily in India. But company officials worry privately that increasingly heavy-handed regulation by the Modi government could jeopardize those prospects. Among the new rules are requirements that big social media firms appoint Indian citizens to key compliance roles, remove content within 36 hours of a legal order, and set up a mechanism to respond to complaints. They must also use automated processes to take down pornography. Facebook has said that it agrees with most of the provisions but is still looking to negotiate some aspects. Twitter, which has come under the most fire for failing to take down posts by government critics, declined to comment. Some in the industry are hoping for a delay in the introduction of the new rules while such objections are heard. The WhatsApp complaint cites a 2017 Indian Supreme Court ruling supporting privacy in a case known as Puttaswamy judgement, the people familiar with it said. The court found then that privacy must be preserved except in cases where legality, necessity and proportionality all weighed against it. WhatsApp argues that the law fails all three of those tests, starting with the lack of explicit parliamentary backing. Experts have backed WhatsApp's arguments. "The new traceability and filtering requirements may put an end to end-to-end encryption in India," Stanford Internet Observatory scholar Riana Pfefferkorn wrote in March. Other court challenges to the new rules are already pending in Delhi and elsewhere. In one, journalists argue that the extension of technology regulations to digital publishers, including the imposition of decency and taste standards, is unsupported by the underlying law.

Heavy rains and howling winds lashed eastern India on Wednesday as the Covid-stricken country's second cyclone in as many weeks battered the coast, forcing more than 1.2 million people to seek shelter. Many scientists say cyclones are becoming more frequent and severe in the northern Indian Ocean as climate change warms the sea. Last week Cyclone Tauktae claimed at least 155 lives in western India. The latest system, Cyclone Yaas, has forced the evacuation of more than 1.2 million people in the eastern states of West Bengal and Odisha. The Indian Meteorological Department said landfall began around 9:00 am (0330 GMT) and warned that it would generate waves higher than rooftops in some areas. Coastal areas experienced wind gusts up to 155 kilometres an hour and pounding rain. "We have been experiencing heavy rainfall and strong winds since last night," said Bibhu Prasad Panda, a resident of Balasore district in the storm's path. "Several trees have been uprooted. The cyclone has also led to snapping of overhead electricity cables." A tornado that preceded the storm left two dead electrocuted as it tore through West Bengal's Hooghly district, authorities said. Kolkata, West Bengal's main city, ordered its international airport to shut down for most of Wednesday. The airport in Odisha's capital, Bhubaneswar, followed suit. "Every life is precious," said Odisha's chief minister Naveen Patnaik as he appealed for people not to "panic" and to move away from the coast. A record 4,800 disaster workers had been positioned in the two states, equipped with tree and wire cutters, emergency communications, inflatable boats and medical aid, the National Disaster Response Force said. Both states are struggling with the coronavirus wave that has left more than 120,000 dead across India in the past six weeks. While masks have been distributed in emergency shelters and relief workers are trying to impose social distancing, many officials fear the new cyclone will only speed up the spread of the virus. "This cyclone spells double trouble for millions of people in India as there is no respite from Covid-19," said Udaya Regmi, South Asia head of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. The storm "is a terrible blow for many people in coastal districts whose families have been struck down by Covid-19 infections and deaths," West Bengal state minister Bankim Chandra Hazra told AFP. Hazra added that it would be "a big challenge" to maintain social distancing in the emergency shelters. Some vaccination centres in threatened districts as well as Kolkata suspended operations because of the storm and a special operation had been launched to ensure the supply of oxygen and medicines to hospitals, officials said. Officials in neighbouring Bangladesh, a regular target of cyclones, said they expected the low-lying delta nation to be spared this time. Some of the deadliest storms in history have formed in the Bay of Bengal, including one in 1970 that killed half a million people in what is modern-day Bangladesh. Odisha's worst-ever cyclone, in 1999, killed 10,000 people. Last year Cyclone Amphan, the worst since 1999, caused widespread devastation but timely evacuations meant fatalities were fewer than 150.

India’s official tally of daily infections of coronavirus fell to the lowest in nearly six weeks in the past 24 hours, offering hope that a devastating second wave is ebbing, but government leaders said shortages of vaccines were a big concern. Barely 3% of the country’s 1.3bn people have been vaccinated, the lowest rate among the 10 countries with the most Covid-19 cases, leaving India and its ill-equipped healthcare system vulnerable to a potential third wave, experts say. The Serum Institute of India, which is supplying the AstraZeneca vaccine, and local firm Bharat Biotech which is providing Covaxin, have both said they are ramping up production but the supply remains way short of the millions of doses India needs. The country yesterday posted 196,427 new coronavirus cases over the last 24 hours, its lowest daily rise in infections since April 14, and less than half the 414,188 peak reported on May 7. The country’s overall officially recorded case load since the start of the pandemic now stands at 26.95mn. There are serious concerns that many new infections are not being reported, due to a dearth of testing in the countryside, where the virus has spread to from the cities. Deaths due to Covid-19 amounted to 3,511 in the last 24 hours, bringing the total since the pandemic first stuck over a year ago to 307,231, according to health ministry data. Experts believe that grossly underestimates the actual toll as only people who have tested positive are counted, whereas many victims were never tested. The Economist magazine’s excess-deaths model estimates that around a million people have died of Covid-19 in India so far, way above the 590,240 in the US, which is the worst hit country based on official counts. In desperation, several Indian state governments and even cities such as Mumbai have launched global tenders or sought expressions of interest from firms such as Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson and Johnson for urgent supplies. But Delhi’s deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia said the three firms told them they were in touch with the federal Indian government and that they will not be dealing with state level authorities. Sisodia blamed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government for mishandling vaccine procurement and not moving fast enough to secure supplies for the country. “It is a global blunder,” said Sisodia, whose Aam Aadmi Party is bitterly opposed to Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The northern state of Punjab also said over the weekend its efforts to directly source supplies had been rebuffed by the foreign vaccine manufacturers.

India's official tally of daily infections of coronavirus fell to the lowest in nearly six weeks in the past 24 hours, offering hope that a devastating second wave is ebbing, but government leaders said shortages of vaccines were a big concern. Barely 3% of the country's 1.3 billion people have been vaccinated, the lowest rate among the 10 countries with the most Covid-19 cases, leaving India and its ill-equipped healthcare system vulnerable to a potential third wave, experts say. The Serum Institute of India, which is supplying the AstraZeneca vaccine, and local firm Bharat Biotech which is providing Covaxin, have both said they are ramping up production but the supply remains way short of the millions of doses India needs. On Tuesday, the country posted 196,427 new coronavirus cases over the last 24 hours, its lowest daily rise in infections since April 14, and less than half the 414,188 peak reported on May 7. The country's overall officially recorded case load since the start of the pandemic now stands at 26.95 million. There are serious concerns that many new infections are not being reported, due to a dearth of testing in the countryside, where the virus has spread to from the cities. Deaths due to Covid-19 amounted to 3,511 in the last 24 hours, bringing the total since the pandemic first stuck over a year ago to 307,231, according to health ministry data. Experts believe that grossly underestimates the actual toll as only people who have tested positive are counted, whereas many victims were never tested. The Economist magazine’s excess-deaths model estimates that around a million people have died of Covid-19 in India so far, way above the 590,240 in the United States, which is the worst hit country based on official counts. In desperation, several Indian state governments and even cities such as Mumbai have launched global tenders or sought expressions of interest from firms such as Pfizer , Moderna and Johnson and Johnson for urgent supplies. But Delhi's deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia said the three firms told them they were in touch with the federal Indian government and that they will not be dealing with state level authorities. Sisodia blamed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government for mishandling vaccine procurement and not moving fast enough to secure supplies for the country. "It is a global blunder," said Sisodia, whose Aam Aadmi Party is bitterly opposed to Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The northern state of Punjab also said over the weekend its efforts to directly source supplies had been rebuffed by the foreign vaccine manufacturers. The hill state of Uttarakhand extended its global tender till the end of the month after failing to get any bid, local media reported on Tuesday. "The vaccination drive is in shambles and people are suffering and despairing," Anand Sharma, a leader of the main opposition Congress said, urging Modi to put aside politics and work with state governments to help them procure vaccines. Pfizer said it was in talks with the Indian government to supply its vaccine, which has still to be cleared by India's drug regulator. "Pfizer remains committed to continuing our engagement with the government of India towards making the Pfizer BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine available for use in the country," a spokeswoman told Reuters, declining to provide details of the ongoing discussions.

The Indian government appealed to farmers to call off a mass protest this week for fear it could prove a viral “super-spreader” event as the country’s overall death toll from Covid-19 crossed 300,000 yesterday. Over a third have died over the past three weeks during a devastating second wave fuelled by a new virus variant detected in India, mass political and religious gatherings, and lowering of the guard by the public, health officials and experts say. Now farmers have stirred fresh alarm by saying they will hold mass protests across the country tomorrow to mark six months of their campaign against deregulation of agriculture markets. Farmers are camped out on Delhi’s outskirts despite a great risk of infection to themselves, the joint committee of farmers organisations said in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to repeal laws to liberalise the farm sector. “We have no desire to expose the protesting farmers or anyone else to avoidable health hazards,” the letter said. But challenging laws that would make farmer livelihoods vulnerable to corporate agri-businesses is itself a life and death matter, it said. Twelve opposition parties including Congress issued a statement saying they stood by the farmers, who are an influential voting bloc in India’s vast countryside. The fear is that a mass rally on the edges of the capital Delhi could become a “super-spreader” incident like the festival on the banks of the river Ganges last month when thousands attended, or the crowded political rallies that were held in states holding local elections. “Please don’t act irresponsibly, this kind of protest is totally unacceptable when the lives of people are at stake,” Amarinder Singh, chief minister of Punjab state where the farmer demonstrations originated, said in a statement. India’s daily tally of new coronavirus infections rose by 222,315, government data showed yesterday  - still the world’s highest 24-hour increase at this time, although it has fallen off highs of over 400,000 earlier this month. The giant South Asian country has recorded a total of 26.75mn Covid-19 infections, second only to the US. Deaths rose by 4,454 to reach a total of 303,720. Health experts say the actual number of fatalities could be several times higher as many are not being reported as Covid-19 deaths. Scores of bodies have washed up in the Ganges or have been found in shallow graves by the riverbank. For several weeks the country has been hitting record daily rises in infections and fatalities that have overwhelmed its healthcare system. While the crisis has eased in major cities such as New Delhi and Mumbai, the coronavirus is still spreading in rural areas and southern states. “Deaths always will lag cases...People who have been diagnosed with infection now will go into hospital, and then a small number of them will die but that will be later,” Ashoka University biology professor Gautam Menon said yesterday.

Indian authorities on Monday ordered the evacuation of nearly half a million people out of the path of a new cyclone heading towards eastern India just one week after another deadly storm smashed into the west coast. The cyclones are hitting as India reels from a surge in coronavirus infections that has plunged the healthcare system into crisis and pushed the country's Covid-19 death toll above 300,000. Experts say storms off India's coast are increasing in frequency and intensity as climate change warms ocean waters. The India Meteorological Department said Cyclone Yaas had formed in the Bay of Bengal and was expected to barrel into West Bengal and Odisha states on Wednesday. Neighbouring Bangladesh has also been put on alert. Yaas could pack gusts of up to 185 kilometres (115 miles) per hour as a ‘Very Severe Cyclonic Storm’ at the time of landfall, the department said. Storm surges of up to four metres (13 feet) high were ‘likely to inundate low-lying coastal areas’, it added. Evacuations in coastal districts and the Sunderbans mangrove forest, a UNESCO world heritage site, started on Sunday, West Bengal disaster management minister Javed Ahmed Khan said. ‘We have to evacuate nearly half a million people... to schools (and) government offices, which have been turned into cyclone centres to provide shelter to these people,’ Khan told AFP. The military and disaster teams have been deployed to help with the preparations and potential rescue operations, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Sunday. Last Monday, Cyclone Tauktae -- India's first major tropical storm this season -- slammed into the western state of Gujarat. It battered several states with torrential downpours and strong winds. The death toll from Tauktae rose to at least 155 on Monday after more bodies were recovered from an oil rig off the western city of Mumbai and several support vessels, the navy said. In Sri Lanka, the weather bureau warned the island nation's fishermen not to venture into the Bay of Bengal.