Covid: India reports highest daily spike of over 1.31L cases
New Delhi: As India continues to reel under a second and more vicious wave of Coronavirus by registering highest ever 1,31,968 fresh infections in the last 24 hours, some more states have red-flagged their concerns about the shortage of vaccine stating that vaccination may come to standstill if required doses of vaccine are not supplied soon.
After Maharashtra, the states of Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Punjab have also started reporting a 'shortage' of vaccine and have warned that they may not be in a position to ramp up inoculation as desired due to a limited supply of vaccines.
On vaccine shortage, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting another 30 lakh doses as the vaccines will run out of stock in the state in two days.
In a letter to PM Modi after a virtual meeting with him on Thursday, Gehlot said, "The state has, till April 7, administered 86,89,770 doses. The present stock of vaccine in Rajasthan will finish in next two days. Therefore, it is requested that at least another 30 lakh doses of vaccine be provided to us immediately so that the momentum that we have built up can be maintained and maximum eligible beneficiaries can be vaccinated at the earliest."
As total COVID-19 cases crossed 5 lakh-mark in Mumbai, the administration has decided to keep all private vaccination centres shut for the next three days due to vaccine shortage and only government centres would be operational in the city.
Reportedly, Odisha is another state that has been reporting severe shortages and at least 50 per cent vaccination centres are running dry in the state. Similar reports are also coming from Chhattisgarh as the Congress-ruled state is barely managing with limited supply of vaccine.
Meanwhile chairing the 24th meeting of Group of Ministers (GOM) on COVID-19, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said that 149 districts have no new cases since last 7 days, while 8 districts are COVID-19-free since 14 days, three districts are COVID-19 free for the last 21 days and 63 have not reported any new case for the last 28 days.
As per the ministry's statement, at the meeting, the minister was apprised about the actions taken to increase production capacity of existing vaccines, and potency & timeline of those undergoing clinical trials. Unfortunately, there was no discussion about the vaccine shortage issue that has been red-flagged by the states.
In a related development, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi for universal vaccination. In a letter to the PM, Gandhi said that there was "no clear reason" why the government was exporting vaccines, and urged the Prime Minister to "open up vaccination for everyone who needs it".
"At our current vaccination rate, it will take years to inoculate 75 per cent of the population. This will have catastrophic effects and will gravely decelerate India's economy," Gandhi said in his letter.
With total 32,16,949 vaccine doses given till 8 pm on Friday, the cumulative number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country rose to 9.78 crore on the 84th day of nationwide vaccination that was commenced on January 16.
With 1,31,968 fresh cases reported on Friday, the country's cumulative confirmed cases has rose to 1,30,60,542, which includes 9,79,608 active cases, 1,19,13,292 recoveries and 1,67,642 deaths. India has reported 780 deaths and 61,899 recoveries in the last 24 hours. Among the states, Maharashtra has reported highest 56,286 new cases of COVID-19 in a single day followed by Chhattisgarh (10,652), Uttar Pradesh (8,474), Delhi (7,437), Karnataka (6,570) and Kerala (4,353), etc.
Sahara group Chairman Subrata Roy Sahara and National Conference leader and former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah have tested positive for Coronavirus.
