Should we hang ourselves: Union Minister Sadananda Gowda

New Delhi/Raipur/Bengaluru: Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers D V Sadananda Gowda on Thursday sought to know whether people in the government should hang themselves for their failure to produce vaccines as was directed by the government.

"The court has with good intention said everyone in the country should get vaccinated. I want to ask you, if the court says tomorrow that you have to give this much (of vaccine), if it has not been produced yet, should we hang ourselves?" Gowda told reporters.

Replying to queries on the shortage of vaccine, the Union Minister stressed on the plan of action of the government and said its decisions are not guided by any political gain or by any other reason.

India will have enough doses to inoculate all citizens by December, the head of the national task force on Covid-19 vaccines said.

Between August and December, Niti Aayog member Dr Vinod Kumar Paul said, 216 crore vaccine doses would become available, which means that there would be surplus doses after every Indian is vaccinated. India reported 3,62,727 new cases, taking the total tally of infections to 2,37,03,665.

The death toll climbed to 2,58,317 with 4,120 fresh fatalities, the data updated at 8 am showed.

The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) has accorded permission to conduct the Phase II-III clinical trial of Covaxin (Covid vaccine) in the age group of two to 18-years-old to its manufacturer Bharat Biotech Ltd, Union Health Ministry said on Thursday.

In view of a surge in cases, the Chhattisgarh government cancelled tenders for the construction of the new assembly building and also stopped work on major projects in the state.

It has also decided to take more stringent measures to prevent the infection from spreading.

The Nepal government asked private hospitals to instal their own oxygen plants to meet the need of oxygen within 15 days, the Himalayan Times reported. Hospitals have stopped admitting patients due to oxygen scarcity. The virus has so far infected 413,111 people and claimed 4,084 lives, which has a population of approximately 29.5 million.