WB CM Mamata Banerjee proposes 'franchise production' of COVID vaccine; writes to PM Modi

In the latest development, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee penned a letter to PM Modi over the inadequate production of COVID vaccines in the state & the country and claimed that only a microscopic percentage of people had been inoculated so far. Mamata Banerjee's letter to PM Modi on Wednesday comes after Delhi DyCM Manish Sisodia targeted the Centre for the halt in the supply of COVAXIN to the national capital. Deeming vaccines as the 'only antidote to COVID-19' as per experts, CM Mamata Banerjee opined that there were many vaccine manufacturers around the globe and that it was possible to identify such reputed ones with the aid of scientists & experts to hasten the process of importing COVID vaccines from different parts of the world. 

CM Mamata Banerjee urges PM Modi to allow import of COVID vaccines

In her letter to PM Modi, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee claimed that 'liberal, pro-active and discerning import of vaccines was a 'paramount' need and urged him to 'embark upon the endeavour' without delay. Further, Mamata Banerjee appealed to PM Modi to urge global vaccine manufacturers to set up franchise operations in India, adding that national players could also be encouraged to opt for the franchise mode in order to increase the bulk of production. The West Bengal CM stated that the state was ready to provide land and support to authentic vaccine manufacturers or franchise operations. 

West Bengal's COVID situation

West Bengal's daily tally of new COVID-19 cases breached the 20,000-mark on Tuesday, while 132 more people died in the state taking the death toll to 12,593, the Health Department said in a bulletin. A record 20,136 new cases took the tally to 10,32,740, it said. West Bengal recorded 18,994 recoveries during the last 24 hours, pushing the number of cured people to 8,92,474. The discharge rate currently is 86.47 per cent. There are 1,27,673 active cases in the state at present. Of the fresh fatalities, 39 were registered in North 24 Parganas district, 37 in Kolkata and 15 in South 24 Parganas, the bulletin said.

The remaining deaths were reported from several other districts. Sixty-one of the 132 new deaths were due to comorbidities where COVID-19 was incidental. The 20,136 new positive cases included 3,998 from North 24 Parganas district and 3,973 from Kolkata, the bulletin said. The cases were detected after testing 68,142 samples in the last 24 hours, taking the positivity rate to 29.55 per cent. The total number of such tests in the state so far is 1,10,99,069.