The Odisha government on Thursday urged the Centre to supply 10-days stock of the vaccine and at least ₹300 crore for COVID-19 management for 2021-22.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik took up many issues during the discussion on the pandemic with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“Odisha has been doing well in vaccination programme with the lowest wastage and efficient administration to eligible persons. We have not been able to ramp up the vaccination due to supply issues,” Mr. Patnaik said.
“We are able to vaccinate 2.5 lakh persons per day and have the capacity to increase it further. We request that at least 10 days stock of the vaccines is ensured for Odisha.”
Due to shortage, the State had to close nearly 700 of the 1,400 functional vaccination centres. Prior to the CM, Health and Family Welfare Minister Nabakishore Das and Additional Chief Secretary Pradipta Kumar Mohapatra had also raised the shortage issue with the Union government.
Stating that the State had reactivated the system to tackle the spike especially in districts bordering some States with high incidence of the virus, Mr. Patnaik appealed to the Centre to allow the States under the State Disaster Relief Funds guidelines to spend up to 50% of the annual allocation for COVID-related activities during 2020-21. The same guidelines may be continued for 2021-22 as well, the CM said.
The State government announced restrictions on people coming from other States.
“People coming to Odisha by any public transport like train, bus, aeroplane or waterways or by any private vehicles have to produce RT-PCR negative report obtained within 72 hours of entry or final vaccination certificate. People coming without such report shall have to undergo seven days of mandatory home or institutional quarantine. This will be effective from Monday,” says the notification issued by the Chief Secretary.
The Collectors of 16 bordering districts have been directed to set up temporary medical centres for providing institutional quarantine facilities for people coming from other States.
The State government has also suspended all public transport from Odisha to Chhattisgarh and vice versa from Saturday to April 30. Eight of the 30 districts share their border with Chhattisgarh.
