Amid a surge in coronavirus cases, the Union Health Ministry on Tuesday asked Maharashtra to expedite the vaccination of healthcare and frontline workers to confer immunity in the shortest possible time.
Additional Secretary in the health ministry, Manohar Agnani, in a letter to the Maharashtra government said a rising trend of COVID-19 cases and the positivity rate has been observed in six districts -- Pune, Nagpur, Mumbai and Suburban, Amravati, Thane, and Akola -- over the past few days.
"Over the past few days, a rising trend of COVID-19 cases and positivity rate has been observed in 6 districts of Maharashtra namely Pune, Nagpur, Mumbai, Amravati, Thane, and Akola," Manohar Agnani said in the letter.
"Hence, it is advised that the vaccination of HCWs and FLWs in these districts is expedited so as to confer immunity in the shortest possible time-frame, as they are also involved in containment, surveillance and management of COVID-19 cases. You are requested to kindly direct the district officials concerned to immediately undertake measures for the maximum coverage of HCWs and FLWs with the COVID-19 vaccine at the earliest," the letter stated.
Maharashtra continues to be one of the worst affected states in the country. The number of new cases in the state has seen a surge over the last few weeks.
On Tuesday, the state reported 6,218 new infections and 51 deaths, taking the tally to 21,12,318, with 51,857 fatalities.
