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May ease more curbs from Sept 1 if Covid cases fall: Maha task force member
Dr Shashank Joshi also spoke about the need to conduct a state-specific serosurvey to gauge the presence of antibodies among people of Maharashtra.
A senior member of Maharashtra’s Covid-19 task force said on Monday said if cases continue to witness a decline in the state, the government will consider easing more curbs starting September 1.
Dr Shashank Joshi also spoke about the need to conduct a state-specific serosurvey to gauge the presence of antibodies among people of Maharashtra.
“It is necessary to have a Maharashtra-specific sero-survey to have a better understanding of the situation in the state. Maharashtra is still dealing with a thick tail of COVID-19 cases and it is very notorious," he was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
He further said the presence of antibodies, however, does not mean people can mingle among themselves and evade social distancing norms. To prove his point, the endocrinologist said in Brazil – one of the worst-affected countries, besides India and the United States, due to Covid-19, 70 per cent of its population developed antibodies and yet they “suffered severely in the second wave” of the pandemic.
Referring to India’s single-day Covid-19 case count, Dr Joshi said it is ranging between 35,000 and 40,000, of which, Maharashtra is accountable for nearly 6,000. “Our state is still on the second spot (after Kerala) in terms of daily Covid-19 cases,” he added.
Stating that the Maharashtra government’s efforts are aimed at “reducing the thick tail” of the coronavirus, he said the people are expected to be “more patient.”
“We need to avoid the mistakes made between the first and second waves,” Dr Joshi said, adding that the state government is taking each step slowly and with utmost caution due to the above-mentioned reasons.
Addressing the issue of reopening schools at a time, he said that it is “globally proven” that schools and religious gatherings have worked as “super spreaders” of the virus outbreak.
“The US prematurely reopened schools and (now), it is not just reporting a higher number of cases, but deaths are also increasing there,” the doctor further said.
Notably, Maharashtra education minister Varsha Gaikwood on Friday said that schools in both rural and urban areas of the state will reopen for physical classes on August 17. While offline classes in rural areas will resume for classes 5 to 8, the same in urban regions will commence for students in classes 8 to 12, news agency ANI reported.
He also spoke about Maharashtra not having enough Covid-19 vaccine doses to administer to its citizens. Dr Joshi said the state government’s goal is to inoculate maximum (adult) population with both the doses of coronavirus vaccines. “(More) relaxations in Mumbai could be introduced after 70 per cent of its population is covered,” Dr Joshi added.
Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday said fully vaccinated people will be permitted to travel on Mumbai suburban trains from August 15. However, people who have taken the second dose of the vaccine must wait for 14 days before availing of the local train services.
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In a tweet, Thackeray said the government is trying to maintain a balance between containing the virus spread and opening up financial activities. “I know that people are running out of patience due to the lockdown curbs, but we should not lower our guard as the Covid-19 crisis is not over as yet,” the tweet added.
Maharashtra reported 4,505 new coronavirus cases and 68 fatalities on Monday, taking the respective toll to 63,57,833 and 1,34,064, according to data shared by the health department. This is an improvement when compared to Sunday’s figures when the state recorded 5,508 fresh cases and a total of 151 deaths. The state has 68,375 active cases and the total number of recoveries has reached 61,51,956, the health department data showed.
