No vaccine shortage in Assam, says Himanta
Assam health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma dispelled rumours of any shortage of COVID-19 vaccines, saying that the state currently has sufficient stock to meet the demand.
“There has been a sudden rise in demand for vaccines in the country and the state of late. But we have about two lakh doses of vaccines at our disposal. By April 13, we will get another three to four lakh doses of vaccines,” Sarma told newsmen on Sunday.
The minister said the health department would emphasise on speeding up vaccination and conducting tests in the coming days.
Amid a fresh spike in COVID cases, Assam is eyeing one lakh tests per day.
Currently, the state is conducting about 75,000 COVID tests per day.
Regarding tests, Sarma said such tests would be made compulsory for air passengers from Delhi and Kolkata to Guwahati as well in the next three to four days.
COVID-19 tests have been made mandatory for passengers from Mumbai and Bangalore recently.
Meanwhile, over 400 persons tested positive for the virus in the past 24 hours even as the positivity rate is at a low of 0.5 percent.
The health minister further allayed fears of lockdown, saying that a majority of the cases were detected at the airports and that the positivity rate was only 0.5 percent.
(Edited by Christopher Gatphoh)
