'India has enough stock of medicines, fertilizers, PPE': Union Min Gowda assures citizens

Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers Sadananda Gowda on Friday said that India has sufficient stock of medicine and fertilizers and the citizens need not panic. He said that the government assesses the domestic requirements of medicines and fertilizers on a daily basis.

'There is no problem of Hydroxychloroquine'

While speaking to news agency ANI, he said, "As of now, there is no problem of Hydroxychloroquine. Every day we assess what is the requirement for domestic consumption and what is in excess that can be exported. We always maintain stock for 10 days with us. We have sufficient Hydroxychloroquine tablets. People of the country need not to panic... All medicines, personal protection equipment (PPE), masks and sanitiser are in sufficient quantity, so there is no need to panic."  

"There is no problem with fertilizers. State governments have sufficient stock of fertilizers. All the factories have started production. We are in touch with the agricultural ministries of the states. We are providing sufficient fertilizer to the farmers of the country," he added. The minister said that there were some transportation problems in the early days of lockdown but things have become normal now.

He further said that the government has plans to tackle any situation. He added that only those items are being exported which are in excess of domestic consumption. 

Coronavirus pandemic in India

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Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the apex medical body monitoring the spread of COVID-19 in India, on Friday in a statement said that a total of 3,02,956 samples from 2,86,714 individuals have been tested till 9 pm on April 15. It said that 12,581 individuals have been confirmed positive among suspected cases and contacts of known positive cases in India. The statement added that until 9 pm, 27,256 samples were reported in the past 24 hours out of which over 1200 were positive for COVID-19.

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The total number of Coronavirus cases in India has risen to 13,387. As many as 23 deaths have been reported in the last 24 hours, as per data provided by the Health ministry. Out of the total count, 11,201 cases are active, while 1,749 people have been cured/discharged/migrated and 437 deaths have been reported till Friday morning.

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