Maharashtra Health Minister requests Centre for more COVID-19 vaccines, oxygen supply, Remdesivir

Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope on Friday requested the Central government for more COVID-19 vaccines, oxygen supply, Remdesivir injections, in wake of the prevailing situation of the pandemic.

"We need 1700 metric tonnes (MT) of oxygen. We urge the Central government to provide us the required oxygen. We received 9 lakh vaccines two days back and 8 lakh vaccines have been administered so far. We request the Centre to provide us vaccines in a large number," said Tope while addressing a press conference in Mumbai.

"Almost 4 lakh people of 45 years and above are waiting for their second dose. There is no supply of Covaxin and if we don't get the supply, we have to transfer vaccines allotted to 18-44 years to 45 years and above age group," he added.

Tope said that the state government started import of 3 lakh Remedesivir after getting permission from the Drugs Controller General of India.

"We have started import of 3 lakh Remedesivir after getting permission from Drugs Controller General of India. We are not receiving the allotted amount of Remdesivir injections from the Centre. We have got 52,000 Remdesivir injections from US aid through Centre," he informed.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Haryana, and Bihar have a high COVID caseload in the country, informed the Union Health Ministry today.

Mumbai reported 3,039 new COVID19 cases, 4,052 recoveries and 71 deaths in the last 24 hours, as per the city health department. The total case tally is at 6,71,394 and active cases are at 49,499 in the city.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday said that the state has been aiming to increase its oxygen generation capacity to 3,000 metric tonnes per day after the central government warned about the Covid-19 third wave.

"The Central government's scientific body has warned about the third wave of COVID. We are preparing for that since last month. Several districts are seeing a decline in COVID cases while some districts are seeing an increase in cases. We are keeping a close tab on it," he said.

( With inputs from ANI )