OREANDA-NEWS. According to preliminary estimates of the German pharmaceutical company BioNTech, the BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine is effective against a new variant of the coronavirus detected in India. This was reported to journalists by the head of the company Ugur Shahin, noting that the relevant check has not yet been completed. Despite this, Shahin said he was «confident» of the drug's effectiveness against the Indian variant of virus.

In India, the number of victims associated with the coronavirus pandemic has exceeded 200 thousand people, the National Ministry of Health said. However, experts believe, that this figure is actually much higher. Over the past six days, more than 300 thousand people have been infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus every day in the country, and over 350 thousand residents of India, whose population is approximately 1.3 billion people, have been infected in the last 24 hours.

The country's healthcare structures are working at the limit of their capabilities, and there are not enough oxygen devices, hospital beds, and antiviral drugs in clinics. It is reported, that many of them send people who have asked for help back home and they eventually die.

All arrivals from India to Russia will be tested for COVID-19 at the airport, said the head of Rospotrebnadzor Anna Popova. At the end of March, a new variant of COVID-19 was identified in India, while the country also recorded British, Brazilian and South African coronavirus mutations.