5.58 pm: Bharat Biotech Managing Director Krishna Ella defends data published by his company for the Covaxin shot.

“Many people say that I am not transparent in my data,” he says, according to ANI. “I think people should have patience to read on the internet and how many articles we have published. More than 70 articles have been published in various international journals.”

5.56 pm: Bharat Biotech Managing Director Krishna Ella says Indian companies do not deserve “gossip and backlash”, responding to controversy over granting approval to the company’s Covaxin shot before completion of third phase human trials, reports ANI.

“Merck’s Ebola vaccine got authorisation for emergency use even before completion of phase 3 trial,” says Ella. “Johnson & Johnson did trials on 87 people and got emergency licence.”

2.00 pm: Britain inoculates the first patient in the world with Oxford and AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine, AP reports. The first patient to receive the dose is 82-year-old Brian Pinker.

12.50 pm: The Tamil Nadu government permits to increase the seating capacity of cinemas, theatres, and multiplexes from existing 50% to 100% by following the necessary coronavirus guidelines, reports ANI.

12.47 pm: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan says he will not get coronavirus vaccination for now as others in the priority groups should get it first, reports ANI.

“I have decided that I will not get vaccinated for now, first it should be administered to others,” he says. “My turn should come afterwards, we have to work to ensure that priority groups are administered with the vaccine.”

12.45 pm: The health ministry says that the decline in India’s daily new cases has ensured a consistent fall in the active caseload, which constitutes 2.36% of the total infections. It also says higher testing has led to the positivity rate further going down to 5.89% in the country. One crore tests were conducted in the last 11 days.

“With a sustained, pro-active and calibrated approach, the daily new cases in India are on a sustained decline,” says a statement. “With the rising recoveries and decline in daily new cases, India’s cumulative recoveries are moving closer to 1 crore. The total recovered cases are nearing 99.5 lakhs, which translates to a recovery rate of 96.19%.”

12.20 pm: Modi says people must ensure that “Made in India” products not only have global demand but also global acceptance. “Quality is as much important as quantity, our standards should rise with our scale in our quest for Aatmanirbhar Bharat,” he adds.

12.08 pm: The Kerala government has asked the Centre to give it priority in distribution of the coronavirus vaccines amid rise in new cases, The Indian Express reports.

“Though we were the first state to report the disease, the cases in the state has peaked just now,” says Mohammad Asheel, executive director of Kerala Social Security Mission under the Social Justice Department. “Despite our population’s vulnerability and susceptibility, we have succeeded in our strategy. So in order to get the best out of our strategy, we need to get the vaccine first.”

12.02 pm: The prime minister says that Indian scientists have been successful in coming up with two “made in India” vaccines, reports ANI.

The Drugs Controller General of India on Sunday approved coronavirus vaccines developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University and the other one by Bharat Biotech. India, which has the second-highest number of coronavirus infections in the world after the United States, is expected to start its massive immunisation programme within weeks now.

12 pm: Prime Minister Narendra Modi says that the world’s biggest coronavirus vaccination programme is set to begin in India, adding that the country is proud of its scientists, reports PTI. He is speaking at the inaugural address of the National Metrology Conclave.

10.52 am: A Brazilian association of private health clinics says that it is negotiating with pharmaceutical firm Bharat Biotech to buy five million doses of its coronavirus vaccine, reports AFP. India approved this vaccine for emergency use on Sunday.

10.50 am: The active cases in India continue to remain below the 3-lakh mark for the 14th consecutive day, according to PTI.

10.45 am: The Drugs Controller General of India gives permission to Serum Institute of India to manufacture its coronavirus vaccine.

9.48 am: India registers 16,504 new coronavirus cases on Monday, taking the tally to 1,03,40,469. The country’s toll rises by 214 to 1,49,649. The country’s active cases stood at 2,43,953, while the recoveries reached 99,46,867.

9.25 am: Sixty-five people have been arrested from two illegal hookah bars in Delhi’s Rohini after police raids, reports NDTV. The police found coronavirus-related restrictions violated at the bars.

9.19 am: The United States government is considering giving some people half the dose of Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine to speed up vaccinations, reports Reuters, citing the head of the federal vaccine programme.

“We know that for the Moderna vaccine, giving half of the dose to people between the ages of 18 and 55, two doses, half the dose, which means exactly achieving the objective of immunizing double the number of people with the doses we have,” says Moncef Slaoui, head of Operation Warp Speed.

9.15 am: Dr Gagandeep Kang, professor of microbiology at Christian Medical College, Vellore, tells CNBC-TV18 that she cannot understand the basis on which Covaxin has been approved for emergency use in the country.

9.10 am: Indian Council of Medical Research Director General Balram Bhargava refutes allegations that the phase 3 trials of Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin shot was not evaluated before India’s drug regulator accorded approval for restricted emergency use of the vaccine, reports The Times of India. Bhargava says emergency use authorisation was given after meticulous review of data of 22,500 persons which established safety of the shots.

9 am: Here is a quick look at the developments from Sunday: