Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Friday said that Kumbh Mela is being widely cited as the reason behind the spread of COVID-19 to rural areas.
“In the previous three waves that Delhi faced, we hardly saw any COVID cases coming from the villages in the countryside. But in this wave, we have seen a number of cases. The entire nation is in fact tackling the spread in rural areas. It is being widely said that the reason behind this spread in villages and rural areas has been Kumbh Mela where people went in large numbers,” Mr. Jain said.
Commenting on the shortage of many drugs, the Minister said that for Remdesivir and Tocilizumab, all the management and control is being done by the Central government and the drugs are supplied to the hospitals through a website managed by the Centre.
“The State wise distribution is also being controlled by the Centre. The Centre has mandated hardly 1,000 units of Tocilizumab injection in one month, which means hardly 30 units per day, while the demand is much more than this. Thus, we have passed the order and formed the expert committee to streamline the supply effectively and mobilise it,” he said.
Meanwhile, AAP leader Atishi said that for vaccination of people above 45 years, healthcare and front-line workers, Covaxin’s stock is left only for three days and Covishield’s stock only for two days.
For the 18-44 age group, Covaxin’s stock is over and Covishield’s is available for eight days, she said.
Appeal to supply vaccine
“People who had already taken their first dose of Covaxin, and are ready to take the second shot, cannot get the jab due to unavailability of vaccines. Humble appeal to the Centre to supply sufficient vaccines for those between 18-44 age group and those above 45 as well,” Ms. Atishi said.
She said that Delhi has administered a total of 43,67,243 doses of vaccine and 10,00,000 people have been fully vaccinated.