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Agencies

Total of 38 UK Returnees Found +ve for New Strain; 82-year-old Gets Britain's First Oxford Vaccine Jab
04-January-2021

Britain today began the mass rollout of the Oxford-AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine, a cheap and easy to distribute shot that experts hope will help crush the pandemic. Brian Pinker, an 82-year-old retired maintenance manager, received the jab at Oxford's Churchill Hospital, NHS England said.

India on Sunday authorised the emergency use of two coronavirus vaccines developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University and by local pharmaceutical firm Bharat Biotech, the country's drug regulator said, paving the way for one of the world's biggest inoculation drives. The two vaccines "are being approved for restricted use in emergency situations," V.G. Somani, the drugs controller general of India, said at a briefing.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted that the fast-track approvals were "a decisive turning point to strengthen a spirited fight" that "accelerates the road to a healthier and Covid-free nation". India is the world's second most infected nation with more than 10.3 million cases and almost 150,000 deaths, although its rate of infection has come down significantly from a mid-September peak of more than 90,000 cases daily.