Amid a significant rise in the coronavirus cases in the last week, the Maharashtra government held high-level cabinet meeting on Monday, June 6.
Since the spike does not seem to be leading to any significant increase in hospitalisations yet, the meeting was conducted to review scrutinize this rapid increase in COVID-19 cases in Maharashtra.
Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray chaired the meeting with the state COVID task force and reviewed the present status of the pandemic and discussed the state's preparedness.
Moreover, the meeting also focused on deciding to observe the situation further before announcing any new restrictions or a revival of the mandatory masking rule since.
After the meeting, Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope said that the COVID-19 positivity rate is increasing in 6 districts including Mumbai, Thane, Raigad and Palghar districts.
Besides, Tope offered a detailed analysis of on-ground situation to the state cabinet. In the last seven days, Mumbai contributed 67.28 per cent of the total cases recorded in the state followed by Thane (17.17%), Pune (7.42%), Raigad (3.36%) and Palghar (2%), the presentation showed.
"We have taken a decision to increase testing in these districts. We appeal to people to take the vaccination and also administer the precaution dose, if they are eligible," he was quoted as saying by agencies. Meanwhile, prior to meeting, Rajesh Tope had mentioned that the main focus of their government is on vaccination. The booster dose shouldn’t be ignored. However, the state will not be giving it for free as it is a precautionary dose.
Tope further clarified that the cabinet has not taken the decision to make the use of masks mandatory. Reiterating his previous statement, the minister added: “The state cabinet has appealed to people to wear masks even though it has not yet been made mandatory. No fine will be imposed for not wearing masks but people will be urged to use masks to curb spread of infection.”
“As per the data, only 1% of the positive cases are admitted to hospitals in the state. So, severity is low and therefore it is not a major cause of concern,” Tope noted.
For those unversed, Mumbai recorded 676 fresh cases on Monday (out of the state’s 1,036 new cases), contributing 60%-70% cases to the state’s daily tally since the last week of May, when the state-wide figures began picking up. With this, the city sees a slight decline in the daily caseload from previous day's which reported nearly 1k cases. Also, it was lowest in the last seven days, where daily cases were recorded more than 700 for the last week.
Maharashtra recorded 1,036 fresh cases, taking the number of active cases to 7,429. Besides, zero COVID-linked deaths were reported.
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