The state Health Minister Rajesh Tope on Wednesday, April 7, said that a new strain could be afflicting the state and infecting people faster in Maharashtra. This comes at a time when Maharashtra continues to be the worst-hit state in India by the coronavirus pandemic.
While talking about the huge spike in cases, Tope said: “We suspect that there is a new strain that is affecting people in a shorter duration of time. Samples have been sent to National Centre for Disease Control to ascertain the theory of new strain.”
Besides, he said that the state does not have enough vaccine doses at various vaccination centre and people have to be sent back due to the shortage. "We do not have enough vaccine doses at various vaccination centres, and people have to be sent back due to a shortage of doses. We have demanded from the Centre that people of age group 20-40 years must be vaccinated on priority," Tope added.
Moreover, the minister said that at present, the state has just 14 lakh vaccine doses which will get over in 3 days. "We've asked for 40 lakhs more vaccine doses per week. I'm not saying that the Center is not giving us vaccines but the speed of delivery of vaccines is slow,” Tope said.
Meanwhile, clarifying the vaccine wastage, he said Maharashtra has a vaccine wastage rate of 3 per cent which is half of the national average vaccine wastage rate of 6 per cent.
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