Maharashtra Covid unlock news live: Pune start-up develops eco-friendly hand sanitiser

A Pune-based start-up has developed an eco-friendly hand sanitiser that prolongs antimicrobial activity and obviates the need for repeated application, the government said on Thursday.

The new academic year that started on Tuesday across the schools in Maharashtra, except in Vidarbha region, had poor response. Only 25-30% of students attended schools virtually in the first two days. Problems such as poor connectivity, lack of devices and in some cases lack of interest were responsible for the poor response, teachers in government schools said. There are more than one crore students enrolled in schools in the state.

The number of people recovering from Covid-19 (1,766) continued to stay above the fresh infections (1,187) in the Pune Metropolitan Region even on Wednesday, with the rural parts maintaining the lead in daily cases. The rural areas also recorded maximum recoveries (969) among the PMR constituents on Wednesday, followed by the Pimpri Chinchwad areas (476) and the PMC limits (321). As many as 295 new cases were recorded in the PMC limits in the last 24 hours and 237 in the PCMC limits.

The municipal council in Baramati, till recently among the worst Covid-hit tehsils in rural Pune, has made fortnightly RT-PCR tests mandatory for all shopkeepers, traders and commercial establishments to check the spread of the virus. The civic council has made arrangements for providing testing free of charge to this targeted group at the Baramati sub-district hospital. “We still have active Covid cases in all our nine civic wards,” Baramati municipal council’s deputy chief officer Padmashree Daigade said. READ FULL STORY

Amravati district administration officers on Wednesday visited tribal-dominated remote villages to combat mistrust about the Covid-19 vaccine and counselling them to get inoculated. "We had made a plan to visit villages. It is very important to tell villagers that we are here to take care of them after vaccination. We have also asked Sanpanchs to encourage villagers to get the vaccine," said an official during a visit to the Melghat region. (ANI)

Industries and oxygen manufacturers in Pune district on Wednesday said the current government allocation of 20% of all oxygen produced was not enough for all stakeholders, hampering large parts of the industry in serving existing orders and taking up new ones. The oxygen demand by hospitals has dropped as the second Covid-19 wave continues to wane.

The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has initiated another special vaccination drive covering Tokyo-bound sportspersons for the Olympics and Paralympics, people travelling for studies, jobs and even spectators wishing to attend sporting events. “The drive will be conducted till June 18 at Kamala Nehru hospital, Mangalwar Peth. Depending on the response, we shall extend the drive,” a civic official said.

Thane district of Maharashtra added 503 coronavirus positive cases, which took its infection count to 5,26,476, an official said on Thursday. These cases were reported on Wednesday, he said. As the virus claimed the lives of 37 persons, the district's fatality count mounted to 10,390. Its current Covid-19 mortality rate stood at 1.97 per cent, he added. (PTI)

In a grim augury for citizens, the state task force on Covid-19 has warned that the third wave could hit Maharashtra—or Mumbai— within the next two to four weeks if crowding in the last three days is an indication. However, it said children would not be affected as much as those in lower middle-class clusters that haven’t been exposed to the virus so far. READ MORE

They are being vaccinated under a special session. We counsel them before administering the vaccine, says J Shah, vaccination inchage (ANI)

Rupali Sapate, elected member of panchayat samiti from Walva in Sangli district has offered her newlybuilt two-storey house located in Satpewadi village to be converted into an isolation centre for Covid-19 patients. The village with population of merely 700 residents has witnessed a sudden spike in Covid-19 cases. In the last few days, the village has identified at least 77. Moreover, the swab tests of around 200 villagers are yet to be conducted. After learning about the sudden spike in cases, Sangli zilla parishad’s chief executive officer Jitendra Dudi paid a visit to the village and ordered testing and tracing of suspects to be ramped up. He also asked the local authorities to start an isolation centre in the village which had no provision for isolation or quarantine facility.

Private hospitals in the city are redesigning offsite (outside of hospital premises) Covid vaccination programmes for corporate firms and housing societies after the Centre last week capped per-dose service charge at Rs 150. Most hospitals said except to fulfil commitments already made, they have now decided not to hold vaccination drives outside of their premises for corporates and citizen groups. They said current logistical overheads exceed the cap on service charges.

The number of people recovering from Covid-19 (1,766) continued to stay above the fresh infections (1,187) in the Pune Metropolitan Region even on Wednesday, with the rural parts maintaining the lead in daily cases.

Vimal Soman, 89, was visibly moved when a nurse from a civic-run hospital gave her a Covid-19 vaccine jab. Soman is a resident of an old-age home in Kothrud. “I feel protected now,” she said, during the special drive this week. About 50 residents of the Palash care home, where Soman has been a resident for two years, received their Covid-19 jabs during special drives supervised by the PMC’s health department. READ MORE

Epidemiologists, on a conservative estimate, expect up to 100 days between the peaks of two infection waves or eight weeks from the decline of one wave to the next peak. However, Dr Shashank Joshi, a member of the state Covid task force, said, “The UK is facing a third wave within four weeks of ebbing of the second wave. We could be in the same situation if we don’t stay vigilant and practise Covid-appropriate behaviour.” READ MORE

Maharashtra and Mumbai reported an increase in Covid-19 cases on Wednesday but a dip in fatalities. After reporting under 10,000 cases for the last two days, the state reported 10,107 cases on Wednesday. Mumbai saw almost a 50% rise in cases as compared to the last two days, with 821 cases registered. READ MORE