Public health minister Rajesh Tope, on Monday, said there is no indication of the third Covid wave in Maharashtra so far. However, the number of cases may increase during the festive season but the transmission can be curbed by increasing the pace of vaccination, he said.
Currently, the state is administering 13 lakh to 14 lakh doses daily, adding that the number of Delta Plus cases is stable. He pointed out that the department aims to administer 15 lakh to 20 lakh vaccine doses daily and the employees are working towards getting more people inoculated.
“There is no sign of the third wave. There is expected to be a surge in cases due to crowding during the festive season but the infection can be controlled with the increased pace of vaccination in the state,’’ said Tope. His statement comes days after the Centre’s advisory to the state to ensure all necessary precautions and effective enforcement is taken to avoid mass gatherings.
Currently, the state is reporting 2,500 to 3,700 cases daily. The number of active cases are 42,955, while the fatality rate is 2.12% and recovery rate is at 97.16%.
The state has till date administered vaccines to 7,34,40,187, comprising 5,27,66,279 who got the first dose and 2,06,73,908 second.
As far as the health infrastructure to combat the third wave is concerned, there are 4,21,914 isolation beds (excluding ICU), 3,31,504 isolation beds (for Covid patients), 90,326 isolation beds (for suspects), 1,21,537 oxygen beds, a total of 36,742 ICU beds, 14,246 ventilators, 15,72,891 PPE kits and 25,91,687 N95 masks.
In a related development, the state is currently focusing on increasing measures to tackle the emerging challenge of Serotype-2 dengue cases. This is in the wake of union cabinet secretary Rajeev Gauba chaired a meeting with the health secretaries from Maharashtra and other states.
Moreover, the state government has announced the appointment of 1,200 doctors and increased the oxygen production capacity to 2,000 metric tonnes from the present level of 1,200-1,300 metric tonnes.
