Dr Shetty to head K’taka task force to tackle Covid-19

Bengaluru: The Karnataka government on Thursday announced the name of cardiac surgeon Dr Devi Shetty as the head of the task force set up to help prepare the state for the potential third wave of Covid-19

Bengaluru: The Karnataka government on Thursday announced the name of cardiac surgeon Dr Devi Shetty as the head of the task force set up to help prepare the state for the potential third wave of Covid-19. The announcement was made by chief minister BS Yediyurappa, who added that Gagan Deep Kang, Professor of Microbiology in Christian Medical College will be appointed as an adviser on the state’s vaccination strategy.

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Talking about the vaccine strategy the CM’s office on Thursday said that Karnataka is preparing to procure 50 million doses for the age group of 18-44 years. “The state has placed a purchase order for 30 million doses of vaccines, 20 million doses of Covishield and 10 million doses of Covaxin. We are floating global tenders for an additional 20 million,” read a statement from the CM’s office.

It further added that 1.48 million beneficiaries have completed 6 weeks after taking the Covishield vaccine and are eligible for the second dose and 5,10,000 beneficiaries have completed 4 weeks after taking the first dose of Covaxin and are eligible for 2nd dose. Thus, a total of 1.97 million persons are eligible for 2nd dose as of today.

“It is necessary to complete the second dose as early as possible to give full protection to the people who have taken 1st dose. Hence, we have decided to utilize the entire stock available with us for the 2nd dose of the eligible beneficiaries,” read the statement.

In this context, the government also added that the CoWin application also was found to have certain limitations on where one chooses to be vaccinated leading to chaos across centres. “To better manage the vaccination process, we are coming up with a technology solution soon; post which we will re-launch the vaccination programme for the 18-44 age group,” said the CM’s office.

The statement added that the government is tackling the increased Oxygen requirement through a 3-pronged strategy of increasing Supply of Liquid Medical Oxygen (LMO), massive scaling of localized generation capacity through oxygen generators, large scale procurement of concentrators and cylinders.

“Government of India has increased the allocation of oxygen from 965 MT to 1,015 MT. We are lifting the entire allocation given to us from within the state and making efforts to bring as much as possible from the other States. In addition, we have received 40 MT of oxygen from Bahrain and another 100 MT from Kuwait. We have brought 120 MT of oxygen from Jamshedpur by train,” the statement added.

Meanwhile, the SSLC examinations slated to start from June 21 stands postponed announced primary and secondary education minister S Suresh Kumar. The increasing Covid cases in the state coupled with the concerns of parent-students and many school associations has resulted in this decision.

A suitable call will be taken after the second wave of Covid -19 dies down, the minister said in a statement. He also emphasised that the revised dates will be announced much ahead of schedule. The minister appealed that the students must not get disheartened and continue with their studious preparations.

State’s death toll due to Covid-19 touched 20,712 with 344 new fatalities on Thursday, while 35,297 fresh cases took the infection count to 20,88,488, the health department said. The state has 5,93,078 active cases. Bengaluru Urban district reported 15,191 new cases and 161 fatalities.