Principal Secretary (health) Anil Kumar Singhal has said that the government has decided not to launch the COVID-19 vaccination drive for people aged between 18 and 45 from May 1, keeping in view the priority to be accorded to those above 45 years.
Steps were taken for procuring 13 lakh doses – Covishield (9,91,700) and Covaxin (3,43,930) – for the month of May as suggested by the Centre. However, price negotiations were not yet held, Mr. Singhal told the media on Friday.
Government hospitals had 30,559 Remdesivir injections at their disposal on April 30 against 29,000 on April 29, he said, Besides, 437 tonnes of liquid oxygen was supplied in the last 24 hours, he stated.
Mr. Singhal said an IAS officer was posted in-charge of the cases under treatment in home isolation, at the Covid Command Control Centre, to ensure that medicines and PPE kits were available to them.
The 104 call centre was being flooded with enquiries. The number of calls received per day last week was about 7,000, which went up to 15,000 on Friday.
Mr. Singhal said the Central government facilitated the use of tankers of petroleum companies for transporting liquid oxygen. Other necessary steps to maintain supply of essentials were being taken as the number of cases rose rapidly.
