T'gana urges Centre to supply vaccines to administer booster doses

Telangana Health Minister T Harish Rao on Friday urged the Centre to supply COVID-19 vaccines to step up booster dose coverage in the state.

Rao, who attended a video conference held by Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, said Telangana has achieved 48 per cent booster dose coverage against national average of 23 per cent, an official release said.

He asked the Centre to inform the states on various issues, including spread of virus, its impact and treatment in view of the rise in Omicron sub-variant BF 7 cases in different countries. This will help the states in improving their preparedness, he said.

Rao suggested taking steps in advance to prevent any shortage in oxygen supply. As part of this, oxygen plants should be linked to the nearby hospitals.

He also sought steps to ensure that the ventilators and others provided by the Centre to the state remain readily available, the release said.

Amid fresh concerns over COVID-19, Rao on Thursday directed officials to ensure preparedness with regard to availability of medicines, oxygen, ICU beds and others to deal with any rise in cases in the state.

Telangana today reported 12 new COVID-19 cases, taking the total tally to 8,41,273.

No fresh fatality was reported and the death toll continued to be 4,111. The recovery rate stood at 99.51 per cent, a COVID-19 bulletin said.