‘Be cautious, new virus strain in Brazil’
Focus on three-fold plan for nine districts as Maharashtra sees 3,297 cases, MMR records 1,075 cases
MUMBAI: Chief minister (CM) Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday directed state authorities to remain vigilant to prevent a surge in Covid-19 cases. In a meeting with the Covid taskforce, the CM said that the nine districts in Maharashtra with high positivity rates must be brought under control.
Dr Shashank Joshi, a member of the task force, said the main point of discussion at the meeting was to prevent a second surge in Maharashtra. He said the state government has started a three-fold programme to tackle high positivity rates in Amravati, Yavatmal, Akola, Nandurbar, Wardha, Ratnagiri, Bhandara, Gadchiroli and Nanded districts. “The spotlight was on the nine districts where a three-fold plan is ongoing. Firstly, improve community tracing, tracking and testing. Secondly, more information education and counselling; and thirdly, aggressive treatment and training so that moderate and severe cases are taken care of,” Dr Joshi said.
He said Satara, Nashik and Nagpur were still reporting high numbers of Covid cases. “Satara, Nagpur, Nashik, along with Thane and Mumbai were also discussed so that we do not lapse now,” said Dr Joshi. He added that Maharashtra could not afford to be complacent and cited the example of Brazil, where a new strain of Covid-19 has been detected even in areas with reported herd immunity.
Another task force member, requesting anonymity, said, “Covid-appropriate behaviour is still key to keeping cases low.
Wearing masks is mandatory and will remain so till the end of this year, at least. The government is going to ramp up testing in some districts where there was a slump in tests.”
On Wednesday, Maharashtra saw a 26-day high in reported Covid cases, with Mumbai and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) recording 1,075 cases.
State health department officials described the surge, which was reported 10 days after local trains resumed services for the general public, as “marginal”. “It could be attributed to unlock factors and also the dip in temperature,” said a health department official.
Meanwhile, 608,570 beneficiaries have been inoculated in Maharashtra in the ongoing vaccination drive, which is in its second phase and vaccinating healthcare workers (HCWS) and frontline (FLWS). Of the total beneficiaries, 518,621 are HCWS and 89,949 are FLWS. Nearly 65% of approximately 800,000 registered HCWS in the state have been inoculated as of Thursday.
Inoculated HCWS from the first phase will begin getting the second shot of the vaccine from February 13.
On Thursday, the state inoculated 34,889 beneficiaries, of which 15,593 were HCWS and 19,296 were FLWS. This is the first time the number of FLWS exceeded that of HCWS.
Meanwhile, there were 3,297 new cases of Covid-19 on Thursday, taking the state’s tally to 2,052,905. Following the reconciliation of Covid-19 deaths until 31st January, there has been a reduction of 2,645 cases in the state’s cumulative case count.
There are 30,265 active cases in the state and on Thursday, 6,107 were discharged upon recovery. Mumbai reported 510 new cases on Thursday, bringing the city’s Covid tally to 312,303, of which 4,197 are active cases.