Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray has asked the state officials to start preparing for another lockdown in view of the increasing number of Covid-19 patients and the failure of the citizens to adhere to the prescribed guidelines.
Thackeray rued that the citizens were flouting all Covid-19 guidelines, hence the state would be forced to take this step.
This was due to the recommendations of the Covid-19 task force which met on Sunday and recommended strict measures amid a sharp rise in Covid-19 patients as well the death toll.
On Saturday, Maharashtra got 35,726 new patients with a death toll of 166. In Mumbai, it was the highest single-day spike with 6,130 new patients and 12 deaths.
Thackeray blamed the citizens for this impasse saying that people were still not wearing masks, marriages halls were more than limited people, people were crowding the market and not observing social distances while private offices were employing more than 50 per cent of staff.
The chief minister said since it was the responsibility of the government to take care of the health of the citizens, officials were instructed to start preparing for the same. He said in case of a lockdown, the officials need to ensure adequate food grains, medicines, essential services as well as medical care for the citizens. The local administration has been directed to ensure an adequate supply of oxygen and ventilators and deploy private doctors in this task.
Health Minister Rajesh Tope said that since the citizens were not listening and the patients were increasing, the state administration was left with no other option.States of Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Punjab, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu have reported a high number of COVID daily new cases. These states account for 81.46% of the daily new cases registered in the last 24 hours (62,714).
Eight states cumulatively account for 84.74% of the new cases reported in the past 24 hours.
Maharashtra has reported the highest daily new cases at 35,726. It is followed by Chhattisgarh with 3,162 while Karnataka reported 2,886 new cases.
Ten states are displaying an upward trajectory in daily new cases.
The Union Health Secretary chaired a high-level review meeting yesterday with Additional Chief Secretaries, Principal Secretaries and Secretaries (H&FW) of 12 States and Municipal Commissioners and District Collectors of 46 districts that are the most affected by rising cases and rising mortality because of COVID-19 and suggested a Five-Fold Strategy to curb the tide of new COVID cases. These states are Maharashtra, Gujarat, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka, Punjab and Bihar.
India has registered a significant achievement in its fight against COVID19. The country’s total vaccination coverage has surpassed 6 crore today.
6,02,69,782 vaccine doses have been administered through 9,85,018 sessions, as per the provisional report till 7 am today.
These include 81,52,808HCWs (1st dose), 51,75,597HCWs (2nd dose), 88,90,046FLWs (1st dose) and 36,52,749 FLWs (2nd Dose), 66,73,662beneficiaries aged more than 45 years with specific co-morbidities (1st Dose) and 2,77,24,920beneficiaries aged more than 60 years.
Eight States account for 60% of the cumulative vaccine doses given so far. Each of the eight states has administered more than 30 lakh doses.
As on Day-71 of the vaccination drive (27th March 2021), 21,54,170 vaccine doses were given.
Of the total, 20,09,805 beneficiaries were vaccinated across 39,778 sessions for 1st dose and 1,44,365HCWs and FLWs received 2nd dose of the vaccine.
In another significant development, the total tests conducted across India have exceeded24 crores while the cumulative Positivity Rate continues to remain below 5%.
Fifteen states/UTs have lower tests per million than the national average (1,74,602).
The daily positivity rate has increased slightly to over 5% (5.04%).
Eight States/UTs have a weekly positivity rate higher than the national average of 5.04%. Maharashtra leads all the states with a weekly positivity rate of 22.78%.
India’s total Active Caseload has reached 4,86,310 today, comprising 4.06% of the total Positive Cases. A net incline of 33,663 cases recorded from the total active caseload in the last 24 hours.
Delhi government puts a curb on public gatherings amid rise in Covid cases | CNN-News18
India’s cumulative recoveries stand at 1,13,23,762 today. The national Recovery Rate is 94.59%.
28,739 recoveries were registered in the last 24 hours. Maharashtra has reported the maximum number of single-day recoveries with 14,523 newly recovered cases.
312 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours.
Six States account for 82.69%of the new deaths. Maharashtra saw the maximum casualties (166). Punjab follows with 45 daily deaths andKeralareported14 deaths in the last 24 hours.
FourteenStates/UTs have not reported any COVID19 deaths in the last 24 hours. These are Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Lakshadweep, Ladakh (UT), D&N & D&N, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Sikkim, Tripura, A&N Islands, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh.
(With inputs from agencies)