Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to provide at least 1,000 tonnes of imported Liquid Medical Oxygen (LMO) and 50 lakh doses of Covishield and 25 lakh doses of Covaxin to the state in view of the rise in Covid-19 cases.
In his letter to the Prime Minister, Vijayan said, “Medical oxygen buffer storage within the State needs to be augmented urgently as there is an increased demand for medical oxygen. In order to augment the storage, we require at least 1,000 tonnes of imported Liquid Medical Oxygen (LMO)."
Vijayan requested Prime Minister Modi to advise the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) to allot the required quantity partly from the current tranche of imports and balance from future imports. Allotment of 500 MT of LMO from the nearest steel plant to the State may also be advised.
At present, Kerala has a stock of 272.2 MT liquid oxygen and 8.97 MT of medical oxygen. Around 108 MT oxygen is what the State requires on a daily basis.
“Further, I request that a possible number of tankers, PSA plants, oxygen concentrators and ventilators may also be allotted to Kerala on a priority basis, considering the fact that Kerala has one of the highest active caseloads in the country," the letter stated.
On the vaccination drive, the Chief Minister appealed the central government to take into account the number of persons awaiting the second dose Covid-19 vaccination as also the number of persons registered for the first dose. The Chief Minister has requested the allotment of 50 lakh doses of Covishield and 25 lakh doses of Covaxin to Kerala.
Kerala on Tuesday registered 37,190 fresh cases, while 26,148 people were cured, pushing the total caseload to over 17 lakh and recoveries to 13.39 lakh, according to official figures.
Read all the Latest News, Breaking News and Coronavirus News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Telegram.
