Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday announced that there would not be much delay in the availability of COVID-19 vaccine in India.

However, he once again reminded his countrymen to continue to exercise caution and follow all necessary COVID-19 protection measures like social distancing, use of mask and focus on hand sanitisation, until the vaccines are out.

"Awaiting Corona's vaccine. As per my recent discussion with scientists, I hope there will be no more delay now. But there should be no carelessness in following Covid prevention measures," the Prime Minister said.

Modi's message came around 10 days after he visited India's top vaccine hubs personally and reviewed the development of coronavirus vaccine and its manufacturing process.

On November 28, the Prime Minister held a three-city vaccine tour with a visit to pharma major Zydus Cadila's plant in Gujarat, Bharat BioTech in Hyderabad and Serum Institute of India (SII) in Pune.

Zydus Cadila drug maker has announced that the first phase of clinical trial of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate, ZyCoV-D, has been completed and it commenced the second phase of clinical trials in August.

Bharat BioTech, which is working on Covaxin, pitched as India's first indigenous vaccine candidate. However, the SII, which has partnered with global pharma giant AstraZeneca and Oxford University for a COVID-19 vaccine, is also focussed on the job.

(IANS)