Jharkhand Govt Urges Centre To Provide 50,000 Covid-19 Vaccine Doses Amid Rise In Cases

Amid rising cases of coronavirus, Jharkhand Health Minister Banna Gupta urged the Centre to provide at least 50,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses.

A health worker with swab samples of people collected for Covid-19 tests. ( Image Source :PTI )

Jharkhand Health Minister Banna Gupta has asked the Centre to provide at least 50,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses to continue with the immunisation drive in the state, amid the rising number of coronavirus cases in the state. Gupta raised the issue at a review meeting chaired by Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Friday, as reported by news agency PTI. "Jharkhand have run out of COVID vaccine doses. We had sent a request to provide at least 50,000 doses to the state two weeks back but its arrival is still awaited," he said, as quoted by PTI.

Jharkhand reported 11 new cases of Covid-19. he active cases rose to 60 in the state, according to the health bulletin. Adding that two people were cured of the disease, in 24 hours. Gupta said that the majority of the patients were having mild symptoms, and were in treatment at their homes.

According to PTI, Mandaviya during the meeting with state and health ministers and principals and additional chief secretaries laid emphasis on identifying emergency hotspots by monitoring trends of influenza-like illness (ILI) and severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) cases. He also stressed upon ramping up testing and vaccination besides ensuring the readiness of hospital infrastructure. The Centre and the states need to continue working in collaborative spirit as was done during the previous surges for COVID-19 prevention and management, Mandaviya said.

Gupta said that the Union minister asked the state to conduct mock drills of infrastructure in hospitals and medical colleges on April 10 and 11 and review the health preparedness with district administrations on April 9, PTI reported. The state minister also sought Mandaviya's intervention for approval of four RT-PCR laboratories at Khunti, Lohardaga, Koderma and Pakur from Indian Council of Medical Research.

During the meeting, Mandaviya said irrespective of the new variants, the five-fold strategy of 'Test-Track-Treat-Vaccinate and adherence to Covid-appropriate behaviour' continue to remain the tested strategy for Covid management.