About 39 pc of 15-18 year olds received COVID vaccine doses so far: Kerala Health Minister

Kerala Health Minister Veena George on Tuesday informed that around 39 per cent of children in the state aged between 15 and 18 years have received COVID-19 vaccine doses while around 60,421 beneficiaries have been administered the 'precaution dose' so far.

"So far, around 99 per cent beneficiaries have received the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine, 82 per cent received the second dose, 39 per cent children between the age group of 15 to 18 have also received COVID-19 vaccine doses and a total of 60,421 persons have received precaution dose," the State Health Minister told ANI.

Speaking about the oxygen infrastructure of the state, she said that about 416.63 metric tons of oxygen are being produced here.

George also directed the health workers to distribute the medicines at everyone's doorsteps and advised people to avoid unnecessary travelling and crowding.

"If you have COVID-19 symptoms, then get yourself tested as soon as possible. Elder people and people with comorbidities should be more careful," she said.

Further, she informed that a total of 13 committees are reconstituting for COVID-19 management in the state.

Comparing the COVID-19 cases of the last two weeks, George asserted that more cases were reported in the age group of 20 to 40 years.

Meanwhile, Kerala reported 17 fresh Omicron cases which pushed up the state's total tally of infections from the COVID-19 variant to 345 on Monday.

Kerala logged 5,797 new COVID-19 cases during the last 24 hours, as per the state health bulletin released yesterday. The active COVID caseload of the state is now at 37,736. As many as 19 people succumbed to the virus in the last 24 hours. The death toll was logged at 49,757.

( With inputs from ANI )