Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar requested the Cwentral government on Friday to send additional supplies of COVID vaccine vials so that vaccinations, which are currently on hold, could begin.
Speaking to reporters here on the sidelines of a function, he also added that his government was “alert” in view of the rising incidence of COVID cases in some parts of the country, though Bihar was not one of them.
“Our testing rate is much higher than the national average, which is six lakh tests per one million people. We are conducting eight lakh tests. Bihar accounts for about one-fourth of the total number of tests conducted across the country”, claimed Kumar.
He underscored that the current spike was noticed in those parts of the country that were the worst affected when the coronavirus caused a global pandemic.
“In Bihar, cases are very few, but we are alert nonetheless. In places like hospitals, the wearing of masks is being reinforced. We were also carrying out vaccinations until our supply dried up. We hope the Centre will do the needful soon”, added Kumar.
The JD(U) leader also took a veiled dig at his former ally BJP when he was asked about riots in some parts of the state during Ram Navami festivities.
“All the guilty would be exposed and brought to book. In 2018, we did not spare even the son of a Union minister”, said Kumar, referring to Ashwini Choubey’s son Arijit Shashwat, who was arrested in connection with riots that had then erupted in Bhagalpur
