Amaravati, Jun 28 (IANS): Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy on Monday lashed out at a section of media houses for allegedly disseminating "baseless" reports and called out their acts as emanating from "sheer jealousy".

"Stories were written in such a way to create panic among people," said Reddy.

He stated that legal action should be initiated against "those two media houses".

The CM highlighted that a publication had written that oxygen was not available at Ashram Hospital which was not the case.

"The articles are completely baseless, written with a mischievous mindset, without any humanity... People would have believed it if this was during peak situations, but now the cases are declining, registering an average positivity rate of less than 5 per cent," he noted.

According to the CM, in the current situation, over 70 per cent oxygen beds and ventilators are are available.

Likewise, officials said that daily medical oxygen usage was 750 tonnes during the peak time of the pandemic, which now fell to 180 tonnes.

All oxygen allocations to the state are being stored at Vizag Steel Plant for use when required.

Counter questioning the media houses, the CM said, "How would there be a shortage of oxygen when the production is surplus in the state?"