The Ministry of External Affairs Thursday said that India’s stand on vaccine exports will depend on its domestic needs and asserted that priority remains to utilise made-in-India jabs for its own inoculation drive.

“Our position on the issue of vaccine exports has been consistent and clear. We have always stated that overseas supply of vaccines from India would depend on vaccine availability and our domestic vaccination programme,” Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said during an online media briefing.

"For the moment our priority remains on utilising made-in-India vaccines for our own vaccination programme which as you know has received a boost with the new phase of vaccination that was launched earlier this week on June 21," he was quoted as saying by PTI.

India recorded 54, 336 new coronavirus cases and 1,321 deaths in the last 24 hours ending 9 am on Thursday. With this the country's total caseload has risen to over 3 crore, while the death toll has increased to 3.91 lakh. Meanwhile, the active caseload has dropped to 6.27 lakh.

Beneficiaries above the age of 18 queue up for vaccination in ESIS hospital in Navi Mumbai.

UP records 32 more deaths, 229 new cases

The Covid-19 death toll in Uttar Pradesh rose to 22,368 on Thursday with 32 more fatalities, while 229 new cases pushed the infection tally to 17,05,012, an official said.

"In the past 24 hours, 229 fresh cases were reported in the state while 308 people recovered from the infection and have been discharged, taking the overall recoveries to 16,79,092," Additional Chief Secretary, Health, Amit Mohan Prasad told reporters.

The count of active COVID-19 cases stands at 3,552, he said, adding that the recovery rate currently is 98.5 per cent, PTI reported.