Pune: Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope on Monday cautioned at reimposing of lockdown in some cities of the state, amid a surge in COVID-19 cases. The Health Minister stated that Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray was also ‘very worried’ about the situation in the state.
The Minister said, “He has requested people to behave responsibly, otherwise, the government will have to resort to enforce a lockdown. People must follow all guidelines.”
He also said that the state government has urged as many as 20 lakh vaccines per day. "We were informed that we will get nine lakh vaccines tomorrow. Our objective is to vaccinate vulnerable groups within three months. The pace needed to complete the aim will require the requested amount of vaccines," Tope talking to media persons said.
Tope also refuted that vaccines are wasted. “It was told by the central government that 58 lakh doses were given to Maharashtra and now the vaccine doses are still lying unused. There is no such situation, here. Every day, 3 lakh vaccinations are taking place and we are trying to increase it by roping in private hospitals and setting up sub-centres in rural areas,” he said.
Maharashtra COVID-19 cases total on Monday jump passed the 25 lakh figure while Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) crossed the 8 lakh mark, though the day's infections and deaths came down as the state grapples with the ‘second wave’.
The state on Monday recorded 24,645 new infections, considerably down from Sunday's record high of 30,535 and 58 deaths, much lower than Sunday's 99, taking up the state total to 25,04,327, and toll to 53,457 respectively - both highest in the country.
The state recovery rate also gone down from 89.32 per cent to 89.22 per cent, while the death rate stood at 2.13 per cent, compared with 2.15 per cent a day earlier and the number of active cases gone up from 210,120 to 215,241.
The number of people sent to home isolation shot above the million mark, jumping up from 969,867 to 10,63,077 while those shunted to institutional quarantine increased from 9,601 to 11,092 on Monday. The government to curtail the further spread in Maharashtra recently also extended the new COVID guidelines till March 31.