Maharashtra Covid lockdown news live: State reports 26,672 new cases, 594 deaths

Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday expressed confidence that the vaccination drive would be expedited after the state starts getting adequate supply of doses from June. Inaugurating a field training workshop titled Pediatrics COVID-19 , Thackeray said his government was relentlessly pursuing the issue of vaccine supply, adding that his government was ready to make one-time payment for 12 crore doses for beneficiaries in the 18-44 age group, who account for six crore of the state's total population..

Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are among the 10 states in the country that account for 73.88 per cent of the new Covid deaths. The inputs came when 3,741 deaths were reported across the country in the last 24 hours with the National Mortality Rate currently standing at 1.13 per cent. Maharashtra saw the maximum casualties (682) followed by Karnataka (451), Tamil Nadu (448), Uttar Pradesh (218), Punjab (201), Delhi (182), Kerala (176), West Bengal (154), Uttarakhand (134) and Andhra Pradesh (118). On a positive note, the daily positivity rate has declined to 11.34 per cent.

A young female Covid patient claimed she was physically abused recently by an ambulance driver in Kerala on the way to a Covid care centre. Closer home, in Pune, a woman was allegedly molested by a driver while her Covid-infected husband was being taken to the hospital. Such instances — likely just the tip of the iceberg — prompted Ninebee, an NGO, launch an initiative dubbed ‘Stree Safe’, which offers an ambulance service operated by women for women. The NGO trains and provides safety equipment to the crews of the ambulances.

Ashish Baxi (52) tested positive for Covid-19 infection in mid-April and was admitted to a private hospital in the city. With no interaction with family for nearly four to five days, he started feeling depressed. Anupama Lad, the ICU in-charge, said that Baxi would always ask about his family members. “He would ask the sisters in the ward about his daughter and wife and also his parents. So, we decided to take a chance and allowed his wife to visit him. That one visit did wonders for him and with some counselling, he could recover well," said Lad.

A sudden spike in Covid cases has been reported in the Osmanabad district jail since May 16 with 130 of the 272 inmates testing positive even though the number of Covid-19 cases has declined in the state jails and 19 smaller jails have become free of the infection. Others who tested positive in the Osmanabad district jail are three women inmates and as many jail officials. The Covid situation continues to remain grim in eight districts of Marathwada region as the region recorded the highest spike of 5,189 positive cases and 140 fatalities. Osmanabad district registered 712 cases and eight deaths.

The Bombay high court has issued a notice to the Centre, seeking its response to a public interest litigation on manufacture and sale of “fake/ spurious” medical grade face masks on e-commerce sites. A PIL by an NGO, Friends of Wadala East, urged the HC “to ensure that unregulated manufacture and sale of medical grade face masks does not go unchecked in view of the fact that a proper mask is perhaps the only manner in which transmission of coronavirus can be prevented”.

The Maharashtra government has now sought allocation of over 2 lakh amphotericin B injections from the Centre in view of the 1,500 reported cases of mucormycosis in the state, health minister Rajesh Tope said on Saturday. Tope said he has spoken to Union Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilizers, Mansukh Mandaviya, for swift allocation. “We have received only 9,000-10,000 injections. We have contacted manufacturing companies, but they are yet to distribute the injections as it has to be centrally allocated,” he said.

The district administration on Saturday announced the guidelines, partially relaxing some of the harsher restrictions it had announced for the May 12-23 duration. The guidelines will now come into effect from Monday morning. “From the midnight of Sunday (effective from May 24), the grocery shops can remain open and vegetables can be sold outside the ‘market’ areas to avoid overcrowding. Industries and the agriculture produce market committees can also function, but cautiously,” said Nashik district collector Suraj Mandhare. “After withdrawing some of the conditions, the state government restrictions under the ‘Break the Chain’ mission will be applicable,” the collector said.

The civic body wants to deploy 200 NCC cadets at the Covid vaccination centres to manage crowds. The decision comes close on the heels of 200 cadets, including girl cadets being deployed at the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) vaccination centres. Pune municipal commissioner Vikram Kumar has sent a letter to this effect to the NCC Group Headquarters in Pune. Brigadier Suneel Limaye, Group Commander of NCC, Pune, told TOI on Saturday, “We have to get a statutory sanction from the NCC directorate before agreeing to the request by the civil administration. Currently, 200 senior division cadets have been deployed at PCMC vaccination centres.”

Organisations working for the differently-abled have sought separate, dedicated vaccination centres or a door-to-door facility as they would find it difficult to wait in long queues. A city-based activist said he is waiting for the state or central government to allow a dedicated centre or home vaccination for them. “It is impossible to wait in long queues. Even as the state government had announced priority vaccination for us, there is no effort,” he said. Bombay High Court told the central government to file a reply on what measures it has taken to comply with its assurance on reviewing its policy to not allow door-to-door vaccination. Activists are hoping that the government will take a favourable stand.

Only 1.2 lakh people across the state got the vaccine on Friday, as per the data given out by the state public health department. The state’s highest singleday vaccination count was almost 4 lakh little more than a month back. More than 2.06 crore vaccine shots have been given out in Maharashtra, making it the state with the highest vaccination count. In the state’s capital, the civic administration got fresh stock of merely 30,000 doses and had to cancel the vaccination drive on Sunday.

The Covid-19 recovery rate in the district’s rural areas increased by just 1% in the last one month. The recovery rate on April 23 was 84%, which had increased to 85% on May 19, stated a report of the Pune Zilla Parishad (ZP). Ayush Prasad, the ZP’s CEO, conceded that the recovery rate was improving at a sluggish pace despite taking several measures to contain the spread of coronavirus. “We have been aggressively conducting tests via our door-to-door survey. On an average, we test 10,000 people daily,” he said.

The number of people recovering from Covid-19 in the Pune Metropolitan Region jumped to 10,223 on Saturday, while just over 3,500 people tested positive for the contagion. The trend held across the region, with the Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad municipal corporations, cantonments and rural areas reporting more recoveries than fresh cases. PMR’s overall positivity rate stood at 12% on Saturday, with 29,124 samples tested. Pune had 840 fresh cases, while Pimpri Chinchwad added 641 patients. The positivity rate in both Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad was under 10%, with the former testing 11,380 samples and the latter testing 7,350 samples.

The eight-day lockdown is going to end on Sunday midnight and the Kolhapur district administration will be easing the restrictions from Monday morning. Essential and emergency services will be operational — between 7am and 11am — as per the state government rules and guidelines. Earlier, due to rising cases of Covid in the district, the district administration had called for an eight days strict lockdown in which all establishments except emergency medical services were shut. New guidelines were released by the district administration as the end of the lockdown approaches. District collector in his orders has stated that “lockdown will be eased from Monday, but the restrictions imposed by the state government till 1st June will remain in place.” Grocery store, vegetables, milk dairies, bakeries, sweet marts, banks, industries, agriculture related shops, parcel service of hotels, cold storage, transportation and other essential services will remain operational between 7am to 11am. Also, home delivery of essential services will be allowed between 7am to 8pm.

State health minister Rajesh Tope on Saturday dropped hint that the Maharashtra government might consider easing some of the restrictions in a phased manner after June 1, provided the positivity rate dropped below 10% and there was adequate health infrastructure and medicines. “The government will assess the situation in the last week of May. If the positivity rate falls below 10% and the number of active cases comes down, the state may consider easing some restrictions,” Tope said. He said the government would take a cautious approach in view of the impending threat of a third wave and chief minister Uddhav Thackeray would announce the final decision.