Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray After lifting all Covid-19-related restrictions earlier this month, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday appealed to people to wear masks when outdoors and take necessary precautions to restrict a possible fourth wave of the pandemic.
The appeal came in the backdrop of an uptick in Covid-19 cases in the state, especially in Mumbai where more than 100 new cases were reported for the second straight day on Wednesday. While the city had reported 102 cases on Tuesday, the figure increased to 112 on Wednesday. The last time Mumbai had witnessed 100 cases was on March 2.
The state, meanwhile, recorded 186 new infections.
Thackeray’s call came after he held a review meeting with divisional commissioners, municipal commissioners, zilla parishad CEOs and top police officers in view of the rise in cases.
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Emphasising on reverting to Covid-19-appropriate behaviour, including use of face masks in crowded places, social distancing and completion of vaccination on time, Thackeray said, “The threat of Covid-19 is not yet over. We need to arrest the spread of infection while it is at the doorstep.” He claimed that there are “40 crore people in China’s various cities who are witnessing a lockdown”.
The CM further said that the government is thinking of allowing booster doses for people in the 18-59 age group in government centres. At present, booster shots are available for people less than 60 years of age only at private hospitals. The state is also thinking of reducing the nine-month gap before taking a booster dose.
A presentation made at the meeting revealed that 1,77,90,194 people have still not taken the second dose of vaccines against Covid-19. At least 88.91 per cent of the eligible population has taken the first doses, while 70.68 per cent has received both the doses, official data showed.
The presentation also revealed that of the 36 districts, nine have reported positivity rate, or cases detected per 100 tests, that is higher than the state’s weekly positivity rate.
The test positivity rate (TPR) – the number of positive cases detected when compared to the total tests conducted – in Mumbai slightly dropped to 1.1 per cent on Wednesday. On Tuesday, with 7,240 tests conducted, 102 cases were detected at a TPR of 1.4 per cent. Following the third wave, the positivity rate had gone below 1 per cent on February 12. While the number of tests being conducted a day is below 10,000 in Mumbai at present, Wednesday saw 9,478 tests being conducted – a slight increase from 7,240 tests on Tuesday.
Post the rise in cases since last Tuesday, the BMC has asked its officials to increase testing and strengthen contact tracing. In 24 hours, contract tracing – the number of people who have come in contact with the infected – has increased, as 727 high-risk contacts have been traced.
Last week, BMC’s testing figures had remained below 10,000, with an exception on April 24, when 10,946 tests were conducted. In the last six days, the lowest number of tests were conducted on April 25 (5,053).
Among all districts, Mumbai has the highest number of active cases at 563, followed by Pune (219) and Thane (76). — WITH PTI
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