Bharat Biotech to hike Covaxin production to 12 million doses/month using Bengaluru plant

Amid the sudden surge in the COVID-19 cases across the country, Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech is now all set to scale up the production of its indigenously developed Covaxin to 12 million doses a month from July from the current 5 million. As per sources, the company is set to start bulk production at its Bengaluru facility. It is important to note here that Bharat Biotech had received approval from India’s drug regulatory authority to start bulk production at the plant recently.

Karnataka Health Minister welcomes Bharat Biotech's decision on Coronavirus vaccine

Welcoming Bharat Biotech's decision to start production of Covaxin Coronavirus vaccine in its Bengaluru plant, Karnataka Health Minister Sudhakar K too to his official Twitter handle. He said that the vaccine manufacturer's decision to augment Covaxin production to 1.2 million COVID-19 vaccine doses per month by July 2021 will surely help India's massive COVID-19 vaccination effort. 

As per the report shared by Karnataka's Health Minister, Bharat Biotech has sought Rs 150 crore funding to split evenly between its Hyderabad and Bengaluru facilities, and plans to step up production by 500 million in due course. The Serum Institute of India, meanwhile, has written to Niti Aayog seeking Rs 1000 crore to set up a dedicated Covishield facility out of a total Rs 3000 crore it is looking for from the government, the report adds.

As the country continues to grapple with the pandemic, 50 per cent of private hospital beds in Bengaluru will be reserved for Coronavirus patients and more Covid centres will be set up. The Chief Commissioner of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Gaurav Gupta on Monday ordered to set up COVID care centres amid the surge in the COVID-19 cases in Bengaluru.
Gupta, while holding a review meeting regarding the spread of COVID-19 in Bengaluru, said, "As COVID-19 cases are rising in the city, COVID-19 care centres must be set up as per requirement at the zonal level. 50 per cent beds must be reserved immediately in private hospitals."

COVID-19 situation in Karnataka

As the world continues to battle against the Coronavirus pandemic, Karnataka so far has recorded over 10,65,290 positive cases, out of which, 9,83,157 have recovered and 12,889 have died. As per the latest reports shared by MoHFW, in the past 24 hours, 10,250 new cases, 2,638 fresh recoveries and 40 people have died. Currently, the total number of active cases in the state is 69,244.

(Image: ANI, PTI)