After seeing a decline in COVID-19 cases in Maharashtra, health minister Rajesh Tope said that its a good thing that the number of new infections is going down but testing needs to be increased. The health minister said this quoting yesterday's Covid cases as the state reported 4,505 infections.
"We are on alert regarding the Delta plus variant of COVID-19," added the Maharashtra health minister Rajesh Tope.
Few days ago the health minister in the view of impending third wave of COVID-19 said that Maharashtra government is preparing itself.
Talking about the preparations, the minister said, "We've kept oxygen, beds, medical staff and medicines prepared."
"According to the govt and ICMR we've laid emphasis on pediatrics," the health minister added.
Speaking on vaccination, Rajesh Tope said that Maharashtra should receive a supply in vaccines because most cases are found in our state and the death rate is also high. "We want to immunize the people as soon as possible, in this way, the effect of the third wave in the state would be less."
At present, 14 districts and regions in Maharashtra are under level-3 restrictions. In June, the state government announced a five-level plan to ease restrictions as per weekly COVID-19 positivity rate and oxygen bed occupancy.
As per the government order, cities and districts which have a positivity rate of five per cent and the oxygen bed occupancy of less than 25 per cent come under level-1, where curbs can be lifted completely.
The level-3 category is applicable for places where the positivity rate is five per cent to 10 per cent and the oxygen bed occupancy is more than 40 per cent.
