In a positive development, the lockdown-like curbs imposed in Maharashtra seem to have helped the government's cause in reducing the daily COVID-19 cases. The Union Health Ministry had on Monday said that the state is showing signs of plateauing.
Now, the Union Health Ministry on Wednesday has said 11 districts in the state are showing a decline in COVID-19 cases in the last 14 days. According to Union Health Secretary Lav Agarwal, these 11 districts are Pune, Mumbai, Thane, Latur, Aurangabad, Bhandara, Mumbai Suburban, Nanded, Gondia, Dhule, and Nandurbar.
12 states, including Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala and Uttar Pradesh, have more than 1 lakh active COVID-19 cases, the government said.
Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Rajasthan and Bihar are among the states that show an increasing trend in daily cases, it said.
From May 1, 6.71 lakh people in the age group of 18-44 years in nine states have been administered the vaccines, it added.
Meanwhile, Principal Scientific Advisor to Centre K Vijay Raghavan, has warned that a third COVID-19 wave is inevitable. "A phase three is inevitable, given the higher levels of circulating virus but it is not clear on what time scale this phase three will occur. We should prepare for new waves," he said.
