“Very Much Concerned About Maharashtra, Don’t Take Virus For Granted”: Centre
Mumbai: The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Thursday expressed concern over the increasing number of coronaviruses in Maharashtra.
Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said in a regular press briefing that the centre has asked the state to pull up its socks as far as managing the coronavirus pandemic is concerned.
“Today, there are more than 1 lakh active cases in Maharashtra. Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Haryana are at the tipping point. We had three meetings with these states where they have been told to pull up their socks,” Bhushan said.
“We are very concerned about Maharashtra. This is a serious matter. There are two lessons to this – don’t take the virus for granted and if we have to remain COVID-19 free, then we need to follow COVID-19 appropriate behaviour,” said Dr VK Paul, Member (Health), NITI Aayog at the press conference.
Also Read: Mumbai May Witness Partial Lockdown: Guardian Min Amid COVID-19 Surge
The Health Secretary said that there has been a total decline in active cases in the country. To date, the number of active cases is 1,89,226. This year around January 1 this figure was more than 3.5 lakhs.
In comparison, Maharashtra has 36,917 active cases around 1 February but the figure has now reached 1,00,0240.
According to him, there are 10 districts with the most active cases. These are Pune, Nagpur, Thane, Mumbai, Bengaluru Urban, Ernakulam, Amravati, Jalgaon, Nashik and Aurangabad.
The ministry said that the cases in Maharashtra were not related to the mutant version. The upsurge in cases is mainly due to the wedding season and stagnation of local trains. People are not following COVID-19 appropriate behaviour, Paul said.
Also Read: Will ‘Gatecrash’ Mumbai Weddings That Don’t Follow COVID-19 Norms: BMC
“Maharashtra has shown a worrisome trend. The mutant strain has not been found incriminating in this surge in cases. It is just related to reduced testing, tracking and tracing and COVID-19 inappropriate behaviour and large congregations,” said ICMR DG Dr Balram Bhargava.
With a spike in daily affairs in Kalyan-Dombivli and Nandurbar, the Maharashtra government has announced the imposition of a night curfew in both districts. It may be noted that the Shiva temple in the area was closed on the occasion of Shivaratri.
Also Read: Six States Accounts For 85.91 pc Of New Coronavirus Cases
As per the order, shops in both districts have been allowed to remain open for five days from 7 am to 7 pm. The shops are allowed to open on Saturdays and Sundays on an optional basis.
Meanwhile, 13,659 new coronovirus cases were reported in Maharashtra on Wednesday, the largest spike of a day in 2021. The death toll of COVID-19 in Maharashtra is 52,610.
On October 8, 13,395 cases were reported in Maharashtra, after which the number of daily COVID-19 cases was reduced. There are 99,008 active cases in Maharashtra.
Meanwhile, Mumbai’s COVID-19 tally has increased to 3,37,134 and the fatal number is 11,515.
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