Kerala health minister Veena George on Thursday said that the state was boosting the number of Covid-19 tests conducted to identify all positive cases. She also said that the Pinarayi Vijayan-led government started talks about producing Covid-19 vaccines in Kerala.
The minister’s remarks came a few days after she met with Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya in Thiruvananthapuram, during his visit to the state earlier on Monday.
“We are ramping up the testing to identify every single case. Our system is already on high alert and we are taking the best possible measures to contain the disease,” health minister George said, when asked about the high Covid-19 caseload in the state, news agency ANI reported.
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She also said that Mandaviya had agreed to provide more vaccines to Kerala as the state continued to battle a high number of daily infections in the state. She also noted that the Kerala government had asked for an additional 11 million doses of the vaccine by next month, to which Mandaviya had agreed during the meeting.
“It was a very positive meeting. We asked for 1.11 crore more doses of Covid-19 vaccines by the end of September and he (the Union health minister) agreed to it. We are thankful to the Union government,” ANI quoted George as saying.
{{/usCountry}}“It was a very positive meeting. We asked for 1.11 crore more doses of Covid-19 vaccines by the end of September and he (the Union health minister) agreed to it. We are thankful to the Union government,” ANI quoted George as saying.
{{/usCountry}}The minister also said that the Kerala government has already begun talks on producing Covid-19 vaccines in the state. “Kerala government has already started talks regarding vaccine production in the state. We are trying to introduce fill-finish units. We have discussed the issue (with the Union health minister) and the Centre is very positive,” she further said.
Earlier in the day, the minister said that the state is ready to immunise children against the Covid-19 pandemic and would take steps as soon as the Centre approves a vaccine for children. She also mentioned that the state government aims to vaccinate all people above 18 years of age in the state by the end of September. Further, over 52% of beneficiaries above 18 years have been inoculated with the first dose while over 19% have received their second dose too, the minister added.
On Wednesday, Kerala reported 21,427 new Covid-19 cases and 179 more fatalities. With this, the state has so far reported 3,745,457 confirmed cases and 19,049 deaths, a bulletin from the health department showed.
(With agency inputs)