Maharashtra vaccinated 80,705 people in the last 24 hours against the coronavirus, according to the Maharashtra Health Department on Friday. Out of the total number of vaccinations during the last 24 hours, 79,748 were administered Covishield vaccine and 957 were given Covaxin vaccine. With this, the total vaccinated in the state has mounted to 24,34,966. The Union Health Ministry on Thursday during its weekly press conference expressed concerns over the COVID-19 situation in Maharashtra and said that the reduced testing, tracing and lack of COVID appropriate behaviours have led to the surge in active cases in the state.
"We are very worried about Maharashtra. This is a serious matter. This has two lessons- don't take the virus for granted and if we have to remain Covid free, then, we need to follow Covid appropriate behaviour," Member (Health), NITI Aayog Dr VK Paul said. Echoing a similar remark, ICMR DG Balram Bhargava said that Maharashtra has shown a worrisome trend. "The mutant strain has not been found incriminating in this surge in cases. It is just related to reduced testing, tracking and tracing and COVID inappropriate behaviour and large congregations," he said.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray yesterday said strict lockdown measures will be enforced in some parts of the state to contain the spread of COVID-19. A complete lockdown has been announced in the Nagpur city area from March 15 to March 21 in view of the rising infections. As per official data, Maharashtra on Thursday recorded 14,317 new coronavirus cases, the highest one-day spike this year, which took the state's caseload to 22,66,374. There are 1,06,070 active cases in the state.
