Maharashtra seeks decline in Covid-19 cases, hospitalisations are less

|HT|

Maharashtra health minister Rajesh Tope said on Wednesday that the daily cases of Covid-19 in the state are declining, adding the overall pandemic situation is under control. Speaking to reporters, Tope said the Maharashtra government is using its full potential to increase the coverage of testing and vaccination.

“The Covid-19 tally which was earlier increasing has now stabilised. Hospitalisations are less in number. As many as 87% infected patients are under home isolation,” Tope added. Till now, Maharashtra has recorded 7,282,128 cases of coronavirus disease in total. Daily infections have remained below the 40,000-mark for two consecutive days.

On Tuesday, the state reported 39,207 fresh cases and 53 deaths. The daily Covid-19 positivity rate has dropped to 20.05%. Medical experts have pointed out that the pandemic situation is stabilising by the day and there won't be a spike in the coming days. “Districts like Mumbai and Palghar, which initially reported a surge, are now recording a decline in the number of cases,” Dr Pradeep Awate, the state's surveillance officer, said on Tuesday. He said the Covid-19 count in other districts of Maharashtra may be high because the surge started late and added the situation in such districts will also stabilise in near future. The state is currently placed under a night curfew from 11 pm till 5 am and there is no plan to impose a lockdown. However, the government has introduced restrictions to ward off the spread of Covid-19.

Salons and gymnasiums in Maharashtra are allowed to operate at 50% of their capacity and only fully vaccinated people are allowed to enter these establishments. Only 50 people are allowed to attend weddings and other social, religious and political events. On the other hand, only 20 people are allowed to attend funerals. Restaurants can operate at 50% from 8 am and 10pm. Given the low incidence of Covid-19 in children, the Maharashtra government will consider the demand for reopening schools in the coming days.

“Demands are rising from certain quarters for reopening of schools as children are suffering the education loss. We will consider it after 10-15 days as there is a low (rate of) infection among children,” health minister Tope said on January 16, adding that chief minister Uddhav Thackeray will take a final call in this regard.

All educational institutions including schools, colleges in Maharashtra have been closed till February 15.

(Except for the headline and the pictorial description, this story has not been edited by THE DEN staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)