No indication of Covid-19 fourth wave currently: Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope

Rajesh Tope. File pic

Despite an upward trend in coronavirus cases in Maharashtra, no scenario of a fourth wave of the pandemic is currently emerging in the state and the new infections are largely restricted to two to four districts, Health Minister Rajesh Tope has said.

Talking to reporters on Wednesday, Tope said during a meeting organised by the Union health ministry in Gujarat last week, he interacted with his counterparts from Punjab, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, which have also reported a rise in new coronavirus cases in the last few weeks.

He said the health ministers of Punjab, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh told him that the cases are rising, but there was "no reason to worry" as hospitalizations were extremely low.

"The rate of rise in number of cases is low. If there are 125-150 cases (daily) in Maharashtra, and that too in certain pockets like Mumbai, Thane, Pune, Nashik" then you can see there is cluster concentration in these two to four districts. That does not mean there is a panicky situation and that the fourth wave is imminent... that is not the case," Tope said.

"But we are keeping a tab on the daily cases. In case the infections continue to rise, we will take steps as per the ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research) guidelines," he added.

Maharashtra on Wednesday recorded 221 COVID-19 cases, more than half of them in Mumbai, and one fatality due to the infection.

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