Karnataka places orders for Covishield and Corbevax booster shots

The state government expects to get 25 lakh Covishield and 5 lakh Corbevax doses from the Central Government this week. It denied any detection of the BF.7 variant of Covid-19 in Karnataka.

At present, the state government has a stock of 6.87 lakh Covaxin doses. (Express file/Nirmal Harindran)

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In the wake of the surge in Covid-19 cases in countries like Japan and China, the Karnataka government has asked people to take booster shots. However, most of the health centres in the state have run out of Covishield and Corbevax vaccines. The Karnataka health department has placed more orders for Covidshield and Corbevax booster doses.

Health and Family Welfare Commissioner Randeep D said, “We have placed the request to the union government for 25 lakh Covishield and 5 lakh Corbevax doses. We are expecting it to come by this week anytime.”

At present, the state government has a stock of 6.87 lakh Covaxin doses.

The health department officials have also denied any detection of BF.7 variant in Karnataka. “We have received the genome sequencing report of 23 Covid positive passengers who arrived at Bengaluru International airport in November and December. So we did not find XBB.1.5 or the BF.7 variant,” an officer said.

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In the random testing of international arrivals at Bengaluru airport, an Indian origin passenger travelling from Japan was tested positive on January 3. According to the officials, out of 134 passengers who were tested at the airport only one was tested positive.

“There has to be mandatory testing of 2 percent of international arrivals at the airport. He was one of those passengers. His sample has been sent for genome sequencing and reports are awaited,” a health official said.

Dr C N Manjunath, member of the state’s Clinical Expert’s Committee and director of Sri Jayadeva Institute of Cardiology, has urged all people to adhere to the Covid appropriate behaviour and take booster shots. “I do not think there will be any waves now due to the BF.7 variant. The reason we did not have a third wave of Covid was due to vaccination,” Manjunath said.

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