Vaccination rate drops again in Maharashtra owing to short supply

Maharashtra health minister Rajesh Tope on Tuesday said the Covid-19 vaccination rate has dropped amid a short supply of doses, even as the state plans to inoculate more than one million people every day

Maharashtra health minister Rajesh Tope on Tuesday said the Covid-19 vaccination rate has dropped amid a short supply of doses, even as the state plans to inoculate more than one million people every day. The state recorded 8,085 new infections. “We want 70% of our population to be vaccinated at the earliest, so that the severity of the third wave is reduced by achieving herd immunity. We could vaccinate only 380,000 people on Tuesday, against our daily average of 700,000 over the past few days. If you ask me about the remaining stock with the state, it has dropped down to almost zero,” he said. The state administered just 384,499 doses on Tuesday.

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Tope said there was no need to fear the Delta Plus variant of Covid-19 as its characteristics have not been proven, as of yet. The government also announced it would continue the genome sequencing of more than 3,500 samples of probable Delta Plus variants, at least for the next three months.

Tope also said that, of the 4,000 samples collected from across the state through genomic sequencing, 21 were found to have been affected by the Delta Plus variant. “Of the 21 patients, 20 got discharged and one died. The person who died was 80 years old and had also comorbidities. We cannot exactly say he died due to the Delta Plus variant. In such circumstances, there is no need to fear the variant,” said Tope.

He said the government is taking various steps like collecting about 100 samples per district for genomic sequencing and they have collected 4,000 such samples till date. “It is up to the people who need to take precautions and their behaviour will determine whether we will get the third wave or it will be delayed,” he added. However, the state government last week had kept the base of its lockdown restrictions as level three.

Mumbai on Tuesday recorded 566 new cases and 12 deaths, with its toll reaching 15,426.

There were 190,140 tests done on Tuesday, while the number of recoveries clocked was 8,623.

The total number of active patients in Maharashtra currently stands at 117,098, while the total number of cases right from the Covid-19 outbreak has now reached 6,051,633. With 16,467 active patients. Pune tops in active cases, followed by Thane with 15,935 patients.

The death toll has now reached 121,804, with Pune leading with 16,688 deaths, followed by Mumbai with 15,426 patients.

Another issue which has grabbed headlines is there are indications that 2,040 people have been administered fake vaccines. “The preliminary report shows that they have been administered saline water instead of the vaccine. We have sent their data to the central government,” said Tope. He said they will be checked after 28 days after they have been administered the vaccine and the decision will be taken after consultations with the central Government.

The scam is being investigated by the Mumbai Police and 10 people have been arrested till date.