Delhi flags vaccine shortage, says stocks to last 3-4 days
After Maharashtra, the National Capital - New Delhi - is also facing a COVID-19 vaccine shortage. Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain has said that vaccine stocks currently available in the city will last only three or four days and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has requested the central government to send additional doses. Meanwhile, the neighboring city of Ghaziabad is also dealing with vaccine shortage.
Delhi reported over 5,500 new cases yesterday
"We are doing 85,000 vaccinations daily in Delhi and if the number rises, we may experience a shortage too. The current stock will last only 3-4 days. The stock needs to be replenished. We have requested the Centre to provide 15 lakh additional doses," Jain told Times Now yesterday. Delhi reported over 5,500 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday.
Delhi to add 3,000 hospital beds amid COVID-19 surge
Jain also informed that Delhi will increase the availability of hospital beds in the coming days. "Currently 55% beds are empty in Delhi. But given the surge, we will add about 3,000 beds in both government and private hospitals (sic)," he was quoted as saying.
Don't have vaccine stock since Monday, says Ghaziabad doctor
Not only Delhi, Ghaziabad, a neighboring city in Uttar Pradesh, is also facing a similar crisis as several private hospitals have run out of vaccine stocks there. "We don't have vaccine stock since Monday. We could vaccinate only 50 people on Monday instead of the usual 200. We have stopped vaccinations since then," Dr. Alok Gupta of Lyf Hospital in Indirapuram, Ghaziabad, told NDTV.
Yesterday, Maharashtra had warned of vaccine shortage
Yesterday, Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope had warned that the state would run out of its vaccine stocks within just three days. Further, hundreds of vaccination centers across the state have been temporarily shut because of unavailability of doses. In fact, at least five other states - Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Odisha and Telangana - are also staring at vaccine shortages, according to reports.
Claims of vaccine shortage utterly baseless: Union Minister
However, Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan has termed the allegations of vaccine shortage as "utterly baseless." "This is nothing but an attempt to divert attention from Maharashtra government's repeated failures to control the spread of pandemic," he said on Wednesday. "Vaccine supplies are being monitored on a real-time basis, and state governments are being apprised regularly about it," he added.
India sees unprecedented surge in COVID-19 infections
India has been witnessing a massive surge in coronavirus cases for the past few weeks amid growing concerns over mutated strains of the virus and laxity among people in adhering to coronavirus-related protocols. In fact, the country on Wednesday reported more than 1.26 lakh fresh infections, the biggest single-day spike since the pandemic began, taking the nationwide tally to over 1.29 crore.