Maharashtra Covid lockdown news live: BJP MLA sets up 102-bed Covid facility in Aurangabad district
Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on Friday said that Maharashtra will begin the Covid-19 vaccination campaign for the 18-44 age-group from Saturday, May 1, on the occasion of Maharashtra Day. The state on Friday distributed 3 lakh Covishield doses to districts for starting vaccination of this age-group from Saturday. Mumbai, Pune and Thane have each got the largest share of 20,000 doses. Other districts were given anywhere between 3,000 and 10,000 doses each. The daily positivity rate, statewide, remains as high as 23%, declining by barely 2% in the last 30 days. Stay with TOI for all the latest updates:
BJP MLA sets up 102-bed Covid facility in Aurangabad district
BJP MLA Prashant Bambfrom Gangapur has set up a 102-bed Covid facility, with 20 ICU beds at Lasur station of Aurangabad district. No money will be charged from the patient for the facility including doctors’ fees. The Covid facility also includes five beds with ventilator support, while another five with non-invasive ventilator support, making it one of the largest private facility in the Marathwada region. He has also installed oxygen generation plant. READ MORE HERE
Malegaon hospital to shut amid oxygen, drug shortage
Former IMA president of Malegaon Dr. Mayur Shah has decided to shut down the Dedicated Covid Hospital (DCH) at his multi-speciality hospital following erratic availability of oxygen and its high prices coupled with shortage of remdesivir. The DCH is a 24-bedded facility, including 11 ICU beds. It has been operational since September last year. “Its a painful decision to shut my Covid facility. But, there was no option left for me. How long can I and my staff beg for oxygen cylinders and remdesivir everyday rather than focusing on treating Covid patients,” Shah told TOI.
Maharashtra demands 7 lakh injection vials for next 10 days: Minister
FDA minister Rajendra Shingne on Friday said in Pune that the state had demanded 7 lakh vials of remdesivir injections from the Centre for the next 10 days. While the Centre had assured 4.3 lakh vials for the last 10 days (April 21-30), the state received only 2.6 lakh vials. “The state continues to reel due to a shortfall of injection since the allotted supply has not been given. There is a shortfall of 1.7 lakh vials from assured supply. We are demanding 7 lakh vials for 10 days for the state to meet demand and supply,” the minister told TOI. READ MORE HERE
Maharashtra’s positivity rate a high 23% but Mumbai’s drops to a single digit
In Gadchiroli, particularly, positivity has jumped from 7.3% early in April to 35% between April 18-24. Dr Anil Rudey, civil surgeon of Gadchiroli, said the district has been conducting 500 tests daily of which 70% are using antigen and 30% using RTPCR. A manpower and infrastructure shortage forced them to rely heavily on antigen, he said. The district has added a second RT-PCR machine and hired a microbiologist to boost testing. So far, Gadchiroli has tested over 2 lakh people. Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray said new cases of Covid-19 have stabilised to some extent due to strict implementation of restrictions. “If we had not imposed strict restrictions, the number of active cases would have crossed 9 to 10 lakh as per the projection…we managed to control it to 6- 6.5 lakh due to restrictions and cooperation from the people of Maharashtra,” he added.
In fact, at least 18 districts have a PR higher than state average. Eleven (Palghar, Buldhana, Nashik, Ahmednagar, Osmanabad, Hingoli, Nagpur, Gadchiroli, Thane, Satara and Parbhani) have positivity of more than 30%. Palghar and Gadchiroli continue to see a jump in PRs. On the lower end, Dhule and Jalgaon have a PR of less than 10%, said Dr Pradeep Awate, state surveillance officer.
A senior official said Mumbai was the only exception among bigger cities of Maharashtra. “The only reason Maharashtra had a 2% drop in positivity since March 30 when PR was 25% is due to Mumbai’s declining graph,” he said. A near-stagnant graph is a cause for worry and indication that there’s been no slowdown in transmission, said a professor from Government Medical College in Nagpur. He cited Nagpur’s positivity rate that remains stagnant at more than 30% in the last one month.
The daily positivity rate, statewide, remains as high as 23%, declining by barely 2% in the last 30 days.
However, experts said the infection continues to rage in the rest of Maharashtra with Nagpur, Nashik and Thane showing a positivity rate of more than 30%.
Mumbai’s daily positivity rate (PR) has dropped 50% — from 20.8% on April 1 to 9.9% on April 30 — giving hope that the second wave could be ebbing.
Gains from the lockdown-like curbs are beginning to show though only in Mumbai and a couple of other districts in Maharashtra.