‘Left with only 5.6 lakh vaccines': Telangana writes to Centre seeking more

As the state of Telangana plans to ramp up the vaccination drive, the state government has written to the Union government asking it to urgently provide at least 30 lakh doses of the COVID-19 vaccine for the next fifteen days, stating that there are only 5.66 lakh doses of vaccine left in the state, which could last for the next three days. According to official information, Telangana has been administering 1.15 lakh doses of vaccine per day and plans to ramp up the same to over 2 lakh vaccines per day.

In a letter dated April 10 addressed to Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan, Telangana Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar wrote, "As you are aware, Telangana state is left with only 5.66 lakh doses of vaccine which would last for 3 days at maximum. Therefore, I would like to request you to urgently provide at least 30 lakh doses of vaccine to Telangana for the next 15 days.”

The number of coronavirus infections in the state is also rising, as Telangana reported 2,909 new COVID-19 cases during the last 24 hours, according to the bulletin released on Saturday. New infection numbers rose to 2,909 from 2,478 cases on Friday. The fresh cases have further pushed the state's cumulative tally to 3,24,091. There were also six deaths reported from the state, taking the death toll due to COVID-19 to 1,752.

According to the health bulletin issued by the Director of Public Health and Family Welfare, the fatality rate stands at 0.54 per cent as compared to the national average of 1.31 per cent. Meanwhile, the number of active cases rose to 17,791 from Friday's tally of 15,472. These numbers include 11,495 persons who are in home or institutional quarantine.

Greater Hyderabad reported the highest infected numbers with 487 cases while its bordering districts also continue to witness a surge.