Maharashtra: Lockdown to be imposed if state sees rise in Covid cases, CM warns
Premium- Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said the Mumbai civic body or the BMC has started Genome Sequencing Lab
Amid fears of a third wave of Covid-19, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has warned that a lockdown shall be imposed if the state witnesses a surge in the number of coronavirus cases.
Addressing the people of Maharashtra on Sunday, CM Thackeray said that the state has made preparations ahead of the third wave of coronavirus.
The Maharashtra Chief Minister said that the state now has 600 testing labs, the number of isolation beds increased to over 4.5 lakh, and there is an availability of 34,507 ICU beds and 1,10,683 oxygen beds.
CM Thackeray also pointed out that the state currently has 13,500 ventilators.
He highlighted that 20 lakh people were affected in the first wave and 40 lakh people in the second wave of Covid-19.
On BMC's Genome Sequencing Lab
CM Thackeray said the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation or the Mumbai civic body has started Genome Sequencing Lab.
Informing about Maharashtra's Oxygen production limit, CM Thackeray stated, "The state's oxygen production is still 1300 Meric Tonnes per day. Last time, during the second wave of coronavirus, we received 1700-1800 MT of oxygen per day. Even if we implement an oxygen self-sufficiency policy, there are immediate limitations to oxygen production. Other states are now seeing an increase in outbreaks. In case of an increase in the number of patients in the state, there will be a lockdown."
On relaxations in Covid curbs
The Maharashtra CM further stated that although relaxations in Covid restrictions have been allowed in Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad, the infection is still on the rise in some districts of the state like Sindhudurg, Ratnagiri, Raigad, Kolhapur, Satara, Ahmednagar, Beed, Pune, Sangli.
"The people of Maharashtra have cooperated with the state government so far, which is why the Mumbai model of Maharashtra was appreciated all over the world. He also said that all the credit for this goes to the people of the state," Thackeray said.
The Chief Minister further informed that 4,63,76,000 citizens have so far been vaccinated in Maharashtra. The number of citizens who took the first dose is 3,45,30,719 while the number of citizens who took the second dose is 1,18,46,107.
"The state has a huge vaccination capacity. We can vaccinate eight to ten lakh people a day, but given the limited availability of vaccines, the mask is our real protector today," he added.
Meanwhile, as many as 45 cases of the Delta variant of coronavirus have been reported in Maharashtra till 8 August, the state health department said today, a day when the state also reported 5,508 new infections.
The state on Sunday registered 5,508 fresh Covid-19 cases and 151 fatalities, taking the tally to 63,53,327 and the toll to 1,33,996, the state health department said.
As many as 4,895 Covid-19 patients were discharged during the day, raising the number of recoveries to 61,44,388 so far in Maharashtra, leaving the state with 71,510 active cases, it said.
Maharashtra's case recovery rate now stands at 96.71% and the fatality rate is 2.1%.
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