Centre to supply ventilators to states with high covid burden

NEW DELHI: Amid an unprecedented surge in covid-19 cases across the country, the central government on Saturday said it will supply ventilators to the states with the highest caseload.

The central government had granted 34,228 ventilators to states in 2020, said health minister Harsh Vardhan, assuring of a fresh supply of the lifesaving machines. He said 1,121 ventilators will be sent to Maharashtra, 1,700 to Uttar Pradesh, 1,500 to Jharkhand, 1,600 to Gujarat, 152 to Madhya Pradesh, and 230 to Chhattisgarh.

Harsh Vardhan was chairing a high-level meeting with health ministers of 11 states and union territories to review measures taken to prevent, contain, and manage fresh surge in covid-19 cases. Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, West Bengal, Delhi, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Uttar Pradesh have been reporting high number of cases daily.

India reported a record daily jump of 2,34,692 infections over the last 24 hours, as per health ministry data on Saturday, pushing the caseload to 14.5 million, second only to the US.

Growth rate of new cases in India is 7.6%, which is 1.3 times higher than the peak of 5.5% reported in June last year.

The widening gap between daily new cases and daily new recoveries is indicative of the rapid spread of the disease.

Vaccine stocks with small states are being replenished every seven days while those of bigger states in four days, the health minister added. Emphasising that there was no shortage of shots, he pushed for ramping up of vaccination.

The minister also exhorted states to plan in advance and increase covid hospitals, oxygenated beds and other relevant infrastructure to deal with any further surge in cases.