PremiumCentre will provide nearly 12 crores covid-19 vaccine doses to States and UTs in June along with its available buffer stock to urgently replenish their depleting stock in order to continue vaccination at steady pace, government said on Monday.
Several states including the national capital have been complaining of shortage of vaccines to drive the covid-19 inoculation program. Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma Subramaniam in a statement on Sunday said that the State is running out of vaccines and has sought the help of the Central government to overcome this crisis. The Minister said the State has six lakh doses of vaccines and it would be exhausted in a day or two. Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has already been complaining of halt of its program at many centres due to shortage of vaccines.
Amidst these issues, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan on Monday convened a review meeting with States/UTs through video conferencing on covid-19 vaccination drive and the progress of vaccination in States.
“There is a substantial scope to accelerate the pace of vaccination even further. The total availability of vaccines is going to increase further in June 2021 as already shared with them through the Vaccine Visibility Calendar. Nearly 12 crores (11,95,70,000) doses will be available to States and UTs in June 2021 enabling them to ramp up the vaccination numbers," said Bhushan.
“The Central Government will provide the states and UTs with the available buffer stock to urgently replenish their depleting stocks so that the vaccination drive carries on with a steady pace," he said.
States/UTs were also exhorted to proactively increase engagement with private hospitals on COVID vaccinations. States/UTs were advised to constitute a 2/3-member dedicated team to regularly coordinate with vaccine manufacturers and private hospitals for timely supplies of vaccine.
It was again pointed to States and UTs to make focused efforts to drastically reduce wastage of covid-19 Vaccine which is a public health commodity through optimal vaccine utilization. “While the overall levels have considerably reduced there were many states which still needed to substantially reduce the wastage. States/UTs should retrain and reorient vaccinators to ensure judicious usage of the vaccines," said Bhushan.
As vaccination is picking up, several states are gradually relaxing the lockdowns. Considerable relaxations in the lockdown came into effect in the State on Monday in Kerala. The government has also lifted the triple lockdown in Malappuram. With the lifting of the triple lockdown, restrictions applicable to the rest of the State till June 9, will be extended to Malappuram also. Kerala has been under lockdown since May 8 to check the rapid spread of Covid-19.
However, Telangana Government decided to extend the lockdown in the state by 10 more days from today with more relaxations. Similarly, Maharashtra government extended the lockdown till June 15 for corporations of Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Thane, Pimpri Chinchwad, Pune, Aurangabad, Nashik, Vasai Virar, Nagpur – all civic bodies with more than one million population. In the urban areas where the total positivity rate is less than 10 per cent and total oxygen beds occupancy is less than 40 per cent, essential shops can be allowed to operate from 7 am to 2 pm instead of 7 am to 11 am. All government offices will be allowed to function at 25 per cent attendance instead of 15% earlier.
In Madhya Pradesh, the Covid Test Positivity rate has come down below 3% and the number of new patients is steadily decreasing in the state, therefore the unlock process in Madhya Pradesh is beginning from June 1st.
Nationally, at least 1,52,734 fresh covid-19 cases were registered in the last 24 hours. A net decline of 88,416 is witnessed in the last 24 hours and active cases are 7.22% of the country's total Positive Cases. The cumulative number of covid-19 vaccine doses administered in the country has exceeded 21.31 crores today under the Nationwide Vaccination Drive.
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