Mumbai: Maharashtra health department on Thursday said the state government is not considering lockdown as of now as there is no demand for medical oxygen.
"No consideration of lockdown as of now. Maharashtra govt will consider a lockdown or lockdown-like restrictions after medical oxygen demand for the state goes beyond 800 metric tonnes per dagday or more than 40% of COVID-19 beds in hospitals are occupied", the department said.
The health department also said that the third wave might peak in mid-February and subside by mid-March.
"This current surge in COVID-19 cases may peak in mid February and may subside by mid March", it said.
Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Wednesday said that the Maharashtra government will not immediately impose a lockdown but further introduce additional restrictions to combat virus infection amid rising Covid-19 cases in the state. Fresh guidelines on new curbs are likely to be issued.
As reported by the Free Press Journal last week, Tope predicted that as high as 80 lakh people in the state could be infected during the third wave of COVID 19. He said 20 lakh people were affected during the first wave and 40 lakh in the second wave.
Meanwhile, more than 20,000 new Covid cases were recorded across Maharashtra on Wednesday, with 26,538 new infections and eight deaths being reported in the last 24 hours, pushing its tally to 67,57,032, with 1,41,581 fatalities till now.
In Mumbai, the daily case count was in five digits for the fourth time since the pandemic -- 15,166 cases were recorded, the highest number of single-day cases in Mumbai since the pandemic began and 11,163 cases were recorded on April 4. The total number of cases has now surged to 8,33,628 cases, with 16,384 fatalities so far.
More than 200 resident doctors have tested Covid-19 positive across Mumbai in the last 72 hours. Out of these, 80 tested positive at Sion Hospital, 73 at JJ, 60 at KEM and 45 at Nair, respectively. With that, the total number of COVID-19 positive resident doctors in the state has crossed 291. Incidentally, there is already a shortage of resident doctors in the city as the NEET-PG counselling issue is stuck in the Apex Court
