Coronavirus news - live: India plans vaccine delivery by drones in remote areas as inoculation drive ramps up

A health worker prepares to administer a Covid-19 vaccine in a village north of Srinagar,  India on 10 June, 2021. (AP)
A health worker prepares to administer a Covid-19 vaccine in a village north of Srinagar, India on 10 June, 2021. (AP)

The Indian government is planning to use drones for delivery of Covid-19 vaccines to people living in remove parts of the country, according to media reports.

The government has invited bids for delivery of medical supplies and vaccines to areas with difficult terrains by drones.

Till now, only the state of Telangana had considered this delivery method in India. It will likely begin the first phase of trial flights of drones in the last week of June.

India is rushing to vaccinate its population against Covid-19 as states begin to ease restrictions on travel and economic activities after a dip in daily infections.

70,421 new Covid-19 infections were reported in the past 24 hours ending Monday morning, the lowest since 31 March. India added 3,921 deaths, taking the overall fatality count to 374,305.

Some medical workers have trekked more than six hours on foot and ponies to reach remote areas and vaccinate the nomadic and shepherd tribes in the mountains, according to Reuters.

Meanwhile, the US is grappling with an ever-growing surplus of coronavirus vaccine and looming expiration dates.

President Biden announced last week that the US would donate 500 million doses of the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine. This plan is part of the G7 pledge to donate a billion vaccine doses to poorer countries.