Maharashtra Covid lockdown news: Vidarbha districts conducting more tests, reducing their positivity rate

State medical education minister Amit Deshmukh on Tuesday said Maharashtra University of Health Sciences (MUHS) will hold a special exam for Covid positive health science students who are unable to appear for exams. Some examinees have been opposing the conduct of exams, fearing they may get infected and thus miss out on writing the exam. Bombay high court and MUHS had turned them down.

As test positivity rate (TPR) has become the most important indicator to upgrade the level of unlocking, almost every district in Vidarbha has started conducting more and more tests now. Despite the number of new cases declining constantly, more than 37,500 tests were conducted in the 11 districts of Vidarbha in last 24 hours. This shows that district administrations are focusing on contact tracing, which is necessary to control Covid-19. Districts like Bhandara and Gondia have less than 0.5% TPR, while Nagpur too reported only 81 positives out of more than 8,000 tests on Tuesday, which means less than 1% test positivity.

Even though travel restrictions have largely been eased within Maharashtra, entry into neighbouring Madhya Pradesh continues to require a RTPCR Covid negative report. There are chances that this may be reviewed in coming days and free movement may be allowed in some parts of the neighbouring state. Due to proximity of districts in MP which are just 70 to 80 kms from Vidarbha towns, travel has been frequent in both directions. During normal times, forests in MP are favourite destinations for tourists from Vidarbha. MP had imposed a ban on travel from Maharashtra in February as Covid cases here began spiking.

Ample stocks of Covishield and Covaxin ensured that more than 22,000 beneficiaries were vaccinated across the district on Tuesday. As per official data, 22,722 people received the vaccine across 236 sites in the district. Of this,16m927 people received Covishield and 5,795 received Covaxin doses.

The Pune Cantonment Board will soon install two oxygen generation plants at Saradar Vallabhbhai Patel Cantonment General hospital. The cantonment board has received two plants under the corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative from a private company and social organization.

The Covid-19 tally in Maharashtra's Thane district has gone up to 5,22,477 with the addition of 394 new cases of the viral infection, an official said on Wednesday. These new cases were reported on Tuesday, he said. The virus also claimed the lives of 36 more people, pushing the death toll in the district to 9,549.

The number of Covid-19 positive cases dropped below 100 in the district on Tuesday after a span of 323 days. There were no fatalities in rural parts of the district in three of last four days. Data from district civil surgeon stated 81 persons tested positive for coronavirus in 8,296 tests on Tuesday. Test positivity rate (TPR) was 0.97%. 46 of these cases were from the city, 33 from rural areas and two from other districts. TPR of the city was even lower than the districtat 0.84% in 5,455 tests. In rural, TPR was 1.16% in 2,841 tests.

City police commissioner Amitabh Gupta said on Monday that e-pass is mandatory for travel through a level-5 district even if one does not halt there. “An e-pass is not required if a person is travelling between level-1 and level-4 districts, but one has to apply for an e-pass for travelling through a level-5 district,” the police chief said.

The Bombay high court on Tuesday questioned the state government on what it has done to create awareness about prevention of mycormycosis or the black fungus disease seen in some Covid-19 patients. “Have you given adequate publicity so that people are aware and they don’t get it?” asked a bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Girish Kulkarni while hearing PIL on the Covid-19 management.

The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) will provide Covid vaccination at home in special drives from Thursday for the differently abled and bedridden patients, and senior citizens. “The initiative will start on Thursday and go up to June 20 in Kasba Peth first and expand to other areas later. Details of the drive will be shared with citizens who can get in touch with the corporators ,” Hemant Rasane, chairman of the standing committee, said on Tuesday. It will start on Bajirao Road with two vaccine shots. Wastage will be avoided and the local vaccination centre will be kept in the loop so that all the doses will be used after a vial is opened, he added.

On Tuesday, the daily cases in the state stayed under 11,000 (10,891) for the second day in a row. But the number of deaths recorded in the state nearly doubled from Monday to 295 on Tuesday, taking the toll to 1,01,172, including 407 past fatalities the state added on Tuesday.

The Pune airport authorities have indicated more flight operations from the city following ease of restrictions. At the start of the summer schedule from March, the airport was gearing up for 108 flights per day. However, the second wave and the resultant restrictions caused a 70% dip in the number of flights in June compared to March. Airport officials said that there are 32 to 42 flight movements at present.

City police commissioner Amitabh Gupta said on Monday that e-pass is mandatory for travel through a level-5 district even if one does not halt there. “An e-pass is not required if a person is travelling between level-1 and level-4 districts, but one has to apply for an e-pass for travelling through a level-5 district,” the police chief said.

Many private hospitals in Pune may have no choice but to suspend vaccination drives after June 21, following a government directive that said service charge for each dose cannot exceed Rs 150, sources from the Association of Hospitals in Pune have said.The cap may lead to financial losses for hospitals, the sources added.