Chandigarh, Apr 20 (PTI) Punjab Health Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu on Tuesday said the state could not achieve its target of vaccinating two lakh people a day due to lesser supply of anti-COVID vaccine.

The situation is “alarming”, with only one day's stock left while the Union government has announced to vaccinate all above 18 years of age from May 1, he said in an official statement here.

Sidhu said Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has already raised the issue with the Centre and has demanded immediate supplies besides quick approval for two new Oxygen plants in the state.

Punjab has a strong health infrastructure and the capacity to vaccinate at least 3 lakh patients in a day through more than 3,000 health centres, he claimed.

But due to lesser supply of vaccine from the Centre, the Punjab government is not able to achieve the target of vaccinating two lakh people per day, he said, adding that so far around 23.4 lakh people have received the jab in the state.

Sidhu said Pathankot district is leading in coronavirus vaccination.

For strengthening the COVID-19 treatment and management services, the state government has identified 16 more private hospitals that have tertiary care facilities for severely affected patients, he said.

At present, there are sufficient number of beds in Punjab, he said.

On Tuesday, the coronavirus fatality count in Punjab rose to 8,045 with 61 more deaths as 4,673 fresh cases took the state's infection tally to 3,09,316, according to a medical bulletin.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)