05 May,2021 05:40 AM IST | Mumbai | Dharmendra Jore
Map/Uday Mohite
AMID a gradual drop in Covid-19 caseload in 15 districts of Maharashtra, including Mumbai and Thane, over the past couple of weeks, 20 districts are seeing a constant rise despite lockdown-like restrictions, leaving the government worried.
Health minister Rajesh Tope said active cases have steadied at 62,000 and the number of deaths have also decreased by half in the past three weeks. The positivity rate has come down to 22 per cent from 27 per cent despite the number of tests carried out each day hasn't decreased. Tope said on Tuesday that more patients are being discharged than the people admitted on a daily basis.
"The 15 districts may have shown improvement, but the remaining 20 districts have rising numbers every day. There is a steep spike in districts [cutting across all revenue divisions] which the local authorities have taken very seriously for considering enforcement of total lockdown," he said. Authorities in Kolhapur, Satara, Sangli and Beed districts have declared an 8-10-day lockdown from Wednesday. Respective guardian ministers have been authorised to impose lockdowns. Over the past 15 days, Buldhana has recorded over 1,300 per cent increase in daily cases.
The state got 9 lakh Covishield vaccines for the 45-plus age group, but they won't suffice to cater to a huge waitlist. Tope said the vaccines will be distributed to all districts. "The stock we received Tuesday afternoon is sufficient for less than two days. At least 50 per cent of people in the 45-plus category have not been vaccinated at all," he said. In the 18-44 group, the state has managed to inoculate one lakh people. The state is expected to get another 18 lakh doses in May. The schedules will be charted out as per the availability of Covishield and Covaxin shots.
Considering the surge in active cases in 16 districts, the chief minister's office said, they need 200 metric tonnes of oxygen which the Centre can arrange from other states. The government has sought 10 tankers for transporting liquid oxygen from the source. Chief secretary Sitaram Kunte wrote to the Union Cabinet Secretary on Tuesday, a day before the Maharashtra Cabinet reviews the situation. The letter said 78,884 out of 6,63,758 active patients were put on oxygen supply. Of these, 24,884 were in the ICU. It said Palghar, Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, Satara, Sangli, Kolhapur, Solapur, Nandurbar, Beed, Parbhani, Hingoli, Amravati, Buldhana, Wardha, Gadchiroli and Chandrapur districts had a rising number of active cases every day. Kunte has said oxygen lifting should be allowed from neighbouring states like Gujarat and Chhattisgarh to save on travelling time. He has requested for 10 tankers that have come from Singapore, Dubai and other countries for transporting oxygen through ro-ro rail from Odisha.
