India has ordered 300 million doses of an unapproved coronavirus vaccine amid the devastating second wave of the country. Munia Iffat reports.

• After the recent criticism from the Supreme Court over its bungled vaccine rollout, India has ordered its first batch of an unapproved COVID19 vaccine.
• The Indian government is buying 300 million vaccine doses from an Indian company called Biological-E, putting down an advance of $205.6 million.
• In a statement, the federal government informed, the unnamed vaccine from Indian firm Biological E is in Phase 3 trials and had shown "promising results" in the first two phases,
• India has administered just over 220 million doses thus far although much of its 1.4 billion populations are now eligible for the vaccine.
• Less than 10% of the Indian has received at least one dose of the vaccination, largely because of a severe shortage of doses.
• India is currently giving three vaccines: Covishield, manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII), and Covaxin, developed by Indian firm Bharat Biotech and therefore the government's Indian Council of Medical Research, and Sputnik V, which is developed by Moscow's Gamaleya Institute.

Meanwhile, a new outbreak of COVID-19 is growing near Myanmar's northwestern border with India, bringing the sharpest increase in cases since the military coup in February led to the collapse in health services and the testing program.