Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala is in need of 50 lakh dose of Covid vaccines immediately in view of the increasing number of daily Covid cases, said Health Minister KK Shailaja.

Kerala received 60.84 lakh vaccine doses till date. 56.75 lakh was administered. Nearly, 5.8 lakh dose of vaccine is in stock. For mass vaccination camps to be held, 50 lakh dose is required. This has been demanded to the Centre. In a meeting held with union health minister today, Kerala has asked for equal number of Covishield and Covaxin, she told reporters here.

At present, there is no shortage of oxygen in Kerala. But the situation may arise later. This was also brought to the attention of union minister in the meeting. Though the state is reporting high number of daily cases, the death rate still remains at 0.4 percent. This is not the situation in other states, Shailaja added.

The government has decided to strengthen the restrictions and preventive measures. ‘Crushing the curve’ project is rolled out to avoid the Covid second wave. We have increased the number of tests. In the past two days, 2.5 lakh tests have been conducted. A total of 1.39 crore tests have been conducted in Kerala till date. This is higher than the national average, she further stated.

As per the serosurveillance survey, only 11 percent of the state population contracted the virus infection. This means the other 89 percent are still susceptible to the infection. This can be prevented by a united effort from everyone to strictly follow Covid protocol and personal hygiene, she added.