11.38 am: The Maharashtra Congress says that the wastage of coronavirus vaccine in the state was only 0.22% against 6% as claimed by Union minister Prakash Javadekar last month, reports PTI.

“Prakash Javadekar ji, wastage of vaccines in Maharashtra is 0.22% and not 6% as per your lie,” says state Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant, tagging the latest statistics released by the Centre. “Modi government only exposed your lie.”

Sawant says the Maharashtra government was proud of the health workers in the state who kept wastage to minimum and still made the state no.1 in vaccination. “Really sad that Maharashtra BJP leaders like you keep humiliating and denigrating the state,” he tweets.

11.08 am: As coronavirus cases continue to surge, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi says the only way to stop the spread of the infection is by imposing a full lockdown with the protection of minimum income guarantee or Nyuntam Aay Yojana scheme.

“GOI [Government of India] doesn’t get it,” Gandhi tweets. “The only way to stop the spread of corona now is a full lockdown – with the protection of NYAY for the vulnerable sections. GOI’s inaction is killing many innocent people.”

10.51 am: The World Health Organisation is set to decide this week whether to approve two Chinese vaccines for emergency use against coronavirus, reports AP.

Mariangela Simao, assistant director-general for access to medicines, vaccines and pharmaceuticals at the global health agency, says some “final arrangements” are to be made before a WHO technical advisory group gives its approval to the Sinopharm and Sinovac vaccines.

10.46 am: Gujarat is now facing a shortage of diagnostic kits for blood tests to determine the extent of coronavirus infection, reports The Indian Express. Earlier, the state faced a shortage of Rapid Antigen test and RT-PCR test kits.

10.45 am: The Surat fire department in Gujarat issues notices to 10 Covid-19 care centres and hospitals in the city for not following fire safety measures, reports The Indian Express.

10.43 am: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation is planning to set up a paediatric Covid care facility in the city, besides a nursery network for children whose parents are admitted in various care centres for Covid-19 treatment, reports The Indian Express.

10.41 am: Delhi receives its first Covid-19 care centre with its own oxygen plant at the Commonwealth Games village Sports complex, reports ANI. The city is facing an acute shortage of oxygen.

10.35 am: India is sending samples of the double-mutant variant of the coronavirus, first found in the country, to the United Kingdom to enable wider studies on the effectiveness of the existing vaccines against it, reports The Indian Express. The variant is suspected of fuelling the coronavirus surge.

“An exchange of samples of the variants is happening,” Former Director of Hyderabad-based Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology Rakesh Mishra tells The Indian Express. “The first shipment should happen in the next few days.” He retired as the director of the institute four days ago.

10.33 am: The defence advisor at the High Commission of Tanzania has died of Covid-19, reported the Hindustan Times. It is the first death within the diplomatic community in New Delhi amid the second wave of coronavirus infections sweeping across the country.

10.30 am: Israel will sending medical equipment to India throughout the week to help it in tackling the coronavirus pandemic, reports PTI. “India is one of Israel’s closest and most important friends,” says Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi. “We stand with India, particularly during these difficult times India is experiencing, and are sending life-saving equipment to our Indian brothers and sisters.”

10.28 am: United States Air Force flights scheduled to leave for India with essential life-saving supplies have been delayed till Wednesday due to maintenance issues, PTI reports, citing the Pentagon.

10.22 am: Lav Agarwal, the joint secretary at the Union health ministry, says data from across the country indicates that there are early signs of improvement in the number of daily case in India, reports the Hindustan Times.

However, experts say it is too early to arrive at such a conclusion. “You cannot establish a trend by looking at 48-72 hours data,” an unidentified public health expert tells the newspaper. “This could be an aberration, and needs to sustain for a few weeks before something can be declared concretely.”

9.40 am: India registers 3,57,229 new coronavirus cases, taking the tally in the country to 2,02,82,833 since the pandemic broke out in January 2020, shows government data. The toll rises by 3,449 to 2,22,408.

8.50 am: Consignment carrying 545 oxygen concentrators arrives in India from the United States, reports ANI.

8.46 am: Indian-American member of the US Congress Raja Krishnamoorthi calls on the Joe Biden administration to send AstraZeneca vaccines to India and other countries.

8.45 am: Flight carrying 282 oxygen cylinders, 60 oxygen concentrators, ventilators and other medical supplies arrives in India from Kuwait, reports ANI.

8.44 am: United States Department of Defense says the final two flights of Covid-19 aid to India have been delayed at least until Wednesday, reports ANI.

8.41 am: Mumbai reports lowest number of new cases in over five weeks as the tally goes up by 2,624 in the Maharashtra Capital on Monday, reports NDTV.

8.40 am: Delhi registers highest single-day toll as 448 coronavirus patients die on Monday, reports NDTV.

8.35 am: Here are the top updates from Monday: