Bengaluru: The Health and Medical Education Minister of Karnataka, K. Sudhakar, on Monday ruled out the possibility of the state facing a shortage of Covid vaccine, and told the media that all the necessary measures have been taken to ensure sufficient supply of vaccines to the state.
Sudhakar said that Karnataka has received 15 lakh additional doses of Covid vaccine in two consignments.
“More than 46 lakh people have been vaccinated in the state so far. We have 12 lakh vaccine doses, and after speaking with the Union Health Ministry, an additional 15 lakh doses have been allocated to the state, out of which 10 lakh doses have been sent to Bengaluru and 5 lakh to Belagavi,” he said.
Alerted by the possibility of bed shortage if the number of Covid cases continue to go up, the state government has initiated talks with private hospitals to reserve beds for Covid patients beyond the current 20 per cent which is in force.
“As per the advice of the technical advisory committee, we need to consider the pandemic seriously till May end. We need to contain the second wave and save lives, for which public cooperation is of paramount importance,” Sudhakar said.
The minister said that experts are of the opinion that there is a possibility of more than 6,500 cases per day in Bengaluru alone. If such a situation arises, the Chief Minister is willing to take the suggestions of opposition parties as well, he added.
Pointing out that the number of Covid cases has come down due to a series of holidays, Sudhakar said that it can be further reduced if the guidelines are properly followed.
