Maharashtra plans relaxations for districts with weekly Covid positivity rate below 0.1%

Maharashtra health department is preparing a plan to provide relaxations in districts where the weekly Covid-19 positivity rate is under 0

Maharashtra health department is preparing a plan to provide relaxations in districts where the weekly Covid-19 positivity rate is under 0.1%. State health secretary Dr Pradeep Vyas is preparing the plan which will be presented to the chief minister and state Covid-19 task force for approval, health minister Rajesh Tope said on Friday. The government, meanwhile, is expected to take a decision on opening suburban train services for a few more categories in the next few days.

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The state added 6,753 fresh infections on Friday, taking the tally to 6,251,810. Active cases stood at 94,769. The state also reported 167 fatalities in the past 24 hours, pushing toll to 131,205. Mumbai reported 373 new cases and eight fatalities. Active cases in the city stood at 10,068.

According to health department officials, 25 districts in the state, including Mumbai, Thane and Pune have a weekly positivity rate under 0.1%, while the remaining 10 districts including Kolhapur, Sangli, Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, Satara, Raigad, Solapur, Palghar, Beed, and Ahmednagar have a weekly positivity rate between 0.15% and 0.85%.

“We have been getting a lot of requests for lifting relaxations; the chief minister also gets it. Additional chief secretary (health) has been tasked with preparing a plan on relaxation. Wherever negligible cases are being added daily, we will look at what relaxations can be given in transport and shop timings. Some districts have been reporting zero cases or in single digits and their positivity rate is low. The health department is preparing a plan on relaxation to see what relaxations can be given for areas where the positivity rate is around 0.1%. It will be presented to the CM and the Covid task force soon,” Tope said on Friday.

Mumbai’s weekly positivity rate stood at 0.05%, while that of Thane city was 0.05% and Pune city 0.1%. On Friday, a chunk of fresh cases came from Pune, Solapur, Satara, Kolhapur, Sangli, Sindhudurg, Ratnagiri, Ahmednagar, and Raigad districts.

A health department official said the dynamic plan on relaxation would look at extending operational hours of shops and establishments, allowing dine-in at restaurants at half the seating capacity, reopening of malls and shopping complexes, etc. However, the final decision will be taken by CM Uddhav Thackeray.

The health minister also said the state government needs some guidelines from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on relaxations as they have carried out sero survey. “ICMR has been guiding the state since the pandemic, and we have been following all their guidelines. Now that they have done sero survey which shows over 66% population has developed antibodies, they should provide some guidelines to all states based on their data on what kind of relaxations can be given, based on age-group, etc.,” Tope said.

Another health department official said the number of cases in the state has stabilised for some days now. “The curve has stabilised; it is neither going up nor declining. Many districts in Vidarbha and Marathwada, from where the second wave started in the state in February, are now showing negligible cases. The viral activity is concentrated in a few districts, but these are high population density areas, business hubs, so there is more mobility. This is also a time to be on guard so that it does not go up. With higher number of vaccinations, we can prevent the impending wave from being strong,” he said.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra administered 426,024 vaccine doses on Friday till 8pm, taking the total count to 40,850,822. So far, 9,693,886 beneficiaries have been fully vaccinated in the state, as per data on CoWIN portal.

Tope added that he plans to meet newly appointed Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya over increasing the vaccine stock allotment to 1 million per day for Maharashtra. He said he has spoken to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis to accompany him to make the plea in person in New Delhi soon.

“Currently we are able to carry out 3 to 3.5 lakh vaccinations daily because we only get that much doses [from the Centre]. We want to take it to 1 million a day, as we have the capacity. We have requested the Centre, and I will go and meet Mandaviya ji along with Opposition leader Devendra Fadnavis to help the state get 1 million doses a day,” Tope said.