Maharashtra: BMC issues global bid to acquire 1 cr COVID vaccine doses

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) issued a global bid on Wednesday to procure one crore COVID vaccine doses to vaccinate citizens in Mumbai at the earliest.

"BMC has issued a global bid today to acquire one crore COVID-19 vaccines to vaccinate citizens in Mumbai at the earliest on a massive scale in its decisive fight against coronavirus," said Municipal Commissioner IS Chahal.

BMC's move comes after Maharashtra Minister Aditya Thackeray on Monday said the municipal body will explore possibilities of global procurement of COVID vaccines to meet the inoculation demand.

"Looking at the need for adequate vaccines to ensure that vaccination is swift and efficient, after discussing the issue with Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, as guardian minister of Mumbai, we have asked BMC to explore possibilities of global procurement of vaccines," Thackeray had said.

Mumbai reported 2,116 new COVID-19 cases and 66 deaths in the last 24 hours, said the MCGM on Wednesday. The new cases pushed the case tally in the city to 6,82,102.

As many as 4,293 patients have recovered from the disease in the last 24 hours, taking the total recoveries to 6,27,373. Meanwhile, the active number of COVID cases in Mumbai stands at 38,859. With the new fatalities, the COVID death toll in Mumbai mounted to 14,008.

( With inputs from ANI )