The government of India has said that it is ready to "expeditiously" send more COVID-19 vaccines to Africa to help fight the Omicron COVID-19 variant, Reuters news agency reported on Tuesday.

The India foreign ministry said in a statement:

"The Government of India stands ready to support the countries affected in Africa in dealing with the Omicron variant, including by supplies of Made-in-India vaccines. Supplies can be undertaken through COVAX or bilaterally."

"Any new requirement projected either bilaterally or through COVAX will be considered expeditiously," the ministry said, also promising the supply of life-saving drugs, test kits, gloves, PPE kits and medical equipment such as ventilators as required.

The ministry added that the government had cleared all orders placed by COVAX for supplies of the AstraZeneca (LON:AZN) vaccine to countries such as Malawi, Ethiopia, Zambia, Mozambique, Guinea and Lesotho, apart from delivering doses of the home-grown Covaxin shot to Botswana.

It did not say how many doses have been approved recently.