India halted local trials for foreign coronavirus vaccines on Thursday as it tries to accelerate its vaccination rollout, with a government official saying Pfizer shots could arrive by July.

The world’s second-most populous country this month recorded its highest monthly COVID-19 death toll since the pandemic began last year, accounting for just over a third of the overall total.

India reported 211,298 new infections on Thursday, the world’s highest daily rise, but nearly half the daily infections it recorded earlier this month.

The overall case load is now at 27.37 million, while deaths stand at 315,235, according to health ministry data. Experts believe that figure grossly underestimates the actual toll.

India pledged last month to fast-track imports, but its insistence on local trials and a dispute over indemnity stalled discussions with Pfizer.

“The provision has now been further amended to waive the trial requirement altogether for the well-established vaccines manufactured in other countries,” the government said in a statement.

Thursday’s move is set to accelerate the arrival of Pfizer shots and those developed by Johnson & Johnson and Moderna, with which the government has held multiple discussions but met with little success.

“Yes, we are engaged with Pfizer because they have indicated availability of a certain amount of, certain volume of vaccines in coming months, possibly starting in July,” Vinod Kumar Paul, a top government official, told a news briefing.

He said the government was examining the company’s request to grant it legal protections against the use of its vaccine in India.

“We are examining the request (for indemnity) and we will take a decision in the larger interest of people and on merit. This is under discussion but there is no decision as of now.”

Both SII and Bharat Biotech were ramping up production to produce 100-110 million doses in the coming months, Paul said.