MP needs 8.1 million first doses of vaccine: CM Chouhan as tally nears 268,000
“The Union health minister has promised to provide the remaining shots very soon,” Chouhan was quoted as saying by news agency ANI. The chief minister’s remarks come after he met Union health minister Dr Harsh Vardhan in Bhopal.
Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said on Sunday the state, among those witnessing a surge in the cases of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), needs 8.1 million first doses of the vaccine adding that only 1,884,000 were secured so far. “The Union health minister has promised to provide the remaining shots very soon,” Chouhan was quoted as saying by news agency ANI. The chief minister’s remarks come after he met Union health minister Dr Harsh Vardhan in Bhopal.
Chouhan said that the vaccination drive in the state is being carried out in full swing. More than 1.46 million people have been administered vaccine doses in Madhya Pradesh of which the first dose was given to 1,138,321 and the remaining 327,284 were vaccinated with the second dose, according to the Union health ministry’s update at 7am. The state, in line with the Centre’s guidelines, rolled out the first phase of its vaccination drive from January 16 to inoculate healthcare and frontline workers and started the second phase from March 1 during which people above 60 years and between 45-59 years with specific co-morbidities are being inoculated.
Chouhan also told ANI the surge in Madhya Pradesh’s cases is a serious concern and urged that people should follow all preventive measures. “I don’t want to create a situation of panic but people should continue taking preventive measures. Otherwise, we will be compelled to impose night curfew at place witnessing an increase in Covid-19 positive cases,” he said.
Madhya Pradesh on Saturday added 675 fresh Covid-19 cases, two more deaths and 496 recoveries. The caseload has climbed to 267,851 with 3,885 deaths and more than 259,000 people have recovered so far. The pandemic situation in the central state of India has been worsening since the first week of March.
Indore and Bhopal are the worst-affected regions in the state and have reported 61,642 and 45,079 Covid-19 cases respectively. Chouhan said on Saturday that night curfew may be imposed in Indore and Bhopal from Sunday or Monday due to a recent uptick in their daily cases and tough measures would be taken to ‘flatten the curve’.
According to a report by Hindustan Times, in what is being seen as a measure to ramp up the fight against the outbreak in Indore, the district's chief medical health officer Praveen Jadia said on Saturday big hospitals in Indore will now allow vaccinations of up to 500 beneficiaries every day and smaller hospitals have been permitted to vaccinate 250 people each day.