India recorded 86,498 new cases in the 24 hours ending 8 am Tuesday, taking the country’s total infections to over 2.89 crore.

This is the lowest spike of daily cases in 66 days. This is also the first time in over 2 months that the cases have fallen below the 1 lakh mark.

Active cases further declined to over 13 lakh and over 2.73 crore people recovered after testing positive. With 2,123 new deaths, the toll is now at 3,51,309. UP, Bihar lift Covid-19 lockdowns;

The government has placed an order to purchase 25 crores doses of Covishield and 19 crore doses of Covaxin, Dr VK Paul, Member-Health, Niti Ayog, said on Tuesday, adding that the vaccines will be available till December 2021, starting now.

“Government has also placed an order to purchase 30 crore doses of Biological E’s vaccine, which will be available by September,” he said. The government has already released a 30 per cent advance to the Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech for procurement of both vaccines.

Earlier today, a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced free vaccine for all adults, the Centre on Tuesday released revised guidelines for the country’s Covid-19 vaccination programme.

These guidelines will be implemented from June 21. As part of new rules, vaccination doses will be provided free of cost to states and union territories based on each state’s population, disease burden and the progress to vaccination. Domestic vaccine manufacturers will be given the option to provide vaccine directly to private hospitals. Private hospitals will be allowed to charge up to a maximum of Rs 150 per dose.