PremiumPointing out that there is an acute shortage of coronavirus vaccine in Jharkhand, chief minister Hemant Soren on Monday stated that only three days' vaccine left for 18-44 group, news agency PTI said.
He said, Jharkhand facing severe shortages of COVID vaccines, only three days' vaccine left for 18-44 group.
The chief minister said that Jharkhand got barely 40 lakh doses of vaccines against a requirement of 4 crore doses, leading to the shortage.
However, the state government would make serious efforts to procure vaccines, including through imports, he said.
On Monday, Soren chaired a meeting with state ministers over the COVID situation in the state. He said the Centre failed to alert states and take necessary measures even as it had prior knowledge of the second wave of the pandemic.
"Government of India knew about the (second wave of the) infection but there was much delay in directions to the states and ultimately the entire country was impacted by it," he said.
"We were suggested that there should not be any lockdown in the country but given the rate of infections, the state governments started taking their own decisions. Today there are partial or complete lockdowns (in every state)," he added.
As per yesterday's data, the state now has 22,566 active cases, while 3,01,705 patients have recovered from the infection, a health bulletin. Battling a sharp surge in COVID-19 cases during the second wave, the state government has extended the lockdown till May 27. Altogether, 80,59,453 samples have been tested for COVID- 19 in Jharkhand thus far, including 58,347 since Saturday, it added. The mortality rate in the state remained higher at 1.45 per cent as against the nation's 1.10 per cent.
Jharkhand is not fudging COVID data
Soren on Sunday said that partial lockdown in the state and strictures have resulted in success of the struggle against coronavirus.
He further added that COVID numbers of the state were high as it was reporting the actual data and not fudging any figures.
Addressing a meeting with officials, heads of hospitals and doctors, Soren said the state machinery should be prepared to deal with a potential third wave of the pandemic.
"We did not tamper with any data. There was no fudging of numbers. We presented correct figures of deaths at hospitals and cremation centres and that is why our COVID numbers are high. We took the right steps in the right direction to contain the virus," the chief minister said.
(With inputs from agencies)
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