From the Newsroom: BSY flags off Covid-19 inoculation drive for 18-44 age group

In your evening news brief, Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa flagged off the Covid-19 inoculation drive for the 18-44 age group; eight Covid-19 patients, including a senior doctor, died at a leading hospital in New Delhi due to oxygen shortage and the first lot of Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine from Russia has arrived in Hyderabad.

Hi, this is Ahmed Shariff and you are listening to, From The Newsroom — your daily evening news catch up show from Deccan Herald.

Here is the top news of May 1, 2021:

In a shocking incident highlighting oxygen scarcity in the national capital, eight Covid-19 patients, including a senior doctor, died at a leading hospital here due to oxygen shortage. Batra Hospital Medical Director Dr SCL Gupta said one of the dead was the head of the gastroenterology department, Dr RK Imrani, who was under medical care for Covid-19. Dr Gupta said that six of the eight who died were in the Intensive Care Unit on high flow oxygen.

Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Saturday flagged off the Covid-19 inoculation drive for the 18-44 age group with four lakh vaccine doses currently available, but uncertainty remains on the way forward.

In what seemed like a hurried inauguration, Yediyurappa symbolically launched the third phase of vaccination to include everybody in the age group of 18-44 at the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Medical College and Research Institute in Shivajinagar in Bengaluru.

“The Centre has given three lakh doses and we have one lakh. In total, there are four lakh doses that will be given to those aged above 18 years,” Yediyurappa said. “We will give the vaccines till they last. We hope to get more vaccines in the days to come,” he added. Based on the availability of vaccines, the inoculation drive will be taken up in a phased manner in the coming days, Yediyurappa said.

The first lot of Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine from Russia has arrived in Hyderabad. The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), which is responsible for the marketing of Sputnik V globally, had said that the vaccines would arrive in India by May 1. The RDIF Chief Kirill Dmitriev said he hopes that these vaccines will help India during its explosive second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, but he did not specify the quantity of the shipment.

(Source: DHNS)