India will produce about 300 million doses of Russia's Sputnik V coronavirus vaccines next year, a Russian official was quoted as saying, nearly three times the previously known number as deals have been signed with more manufacturers.
Russia is already testing the first samples of Sputnik V that were produced in India, its embassy in New Delhi said on Twitter on Friday, sharing a news story in which their vaccine czar Kirill Dmitriev was quoted.
"In India, we have agreements with four large manufacturers," Dmitriev, the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) told Rossiya 24 TV, according to news agency TASS.
"India will produce about 300 million doses or more of the vaccine for us next year."
India is the world's biggest vaccine maker, and the pharmaceutical industry is freeing up capacity and accelerating investments ahead of the global rush for COVID-19 shots.
Hetero Biopharma has already announced a deal with the RDIF to make more than 100 million doses of Sputnik V, whose efficacy has been found to be more than 91% in trials done outside India.
It was not immediately clear which other Indian companies would make the vaccine, though Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd is conducting clinical trials of it in India and will also distribute the finished vaccine.
Officials have said they may approve some vaccines for emergency use authorization in the coming weeks. So far only three vaccines from Oxford-AstraZeneca, Pfizer/BioNTech and Indian company Bharat Biotech have applied for urgent approval.
The health ministry on Friday reported 22,890 new coronavirus infections, taking country's total to just shy of 10 million. India is currently the world's second-worst affected country after the United States, which has recorded 16.9 million cases.
India's deaths rose by 338, taking the total to 144,789.
Ministry Dismisses Reports On High Number Of 'Zero Dose Children' In India Indian Children Who Missed Out On Vaccines Drop To 16 lakh 2023: UN, WHO Serum Institute's New "High Efficacy" Malaria Vaccine Rolls Out In Africa Bangladesh Imposes Curfew, Deploys Military As 105 Die In Protests "Jindal Group Executive Showed Porn, Groped Me On Flight": Woman To NDTV Over 300 Indian Students Return Home As 105 Bangladeshis Killed In Protests Wife Among Two Jailed For Life For Man's Murder In Gurugram: Cops 1,100 Flights Cancelled In US As Microsoft Outage Disrupts Operations Elon Musk Congratulates PM Modi On Becoming Most Followed Leader On X Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world.