Flagging the severe shortage of oxygen in the State, Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa on Friday appealed to the Centre to allocate more oxygen and Remdesivir to Karnataka as the number of COVID-19 cases here has seen an exponential increase. He expressed concern that several healthcare centres would have to be shut if there was no increase in oxygen supply.
Providing a glimpse of the COVID-19 situation in the State to Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a virtual meeting of Chief Ministers, Mr. Yediyurappa said the current positivity rate stood at 16% in Karnataka, and urban centres such as Bengaluru, Mysuru, Tumakuru, Ballari, Hassan, and Kalaburagi were among the worst-affected. While 500 tonnes of oxygen was consumed across the State on Thursday, the Chief Minister pointed out that 1,142 tonnes was estimated to be the demand by April 25, and the quantum is likely to go up to 1,471 tonnes by April 30. “However, the Centre has allocated only 300 tonnes of oxygen to Karnataka. If the same situation continues, several healthcare centres have to be closed down,” he told the Prime Minister. A note from the Chief Minister’s Office said that he urged Mr. Modi to allocate 1,471 tonnes of oxygen daily to Karnataka.
Mr. Yediyurappa also appealed to Mr. Modi to provide two lakh doses of Remdesivir over the next 10 days to ensure there is no shortage of the drug in the treatment of COVID-19 patients.
Mr. Yediyurappa also informed the Prime Minister about the measures implemented in the State to contain the spread of the virus by ensuring that economic activities are also not hampered. He said that the ramping up of infrastructure in the past six months had become handy now. He also said there was a proposal to start step-down hospitals using hotel rooms in the vicinity of the hospitals.
On the efforts made in Bengaluru, the Chief Minister said that the efforts in containment of the virus in eight zones in Bengaluru were being coordinated by eight Ministers and senior IAS officers.
