Mumbai: Maharashtra is ‘in the beginning of a second wave of Covid’, the Union government has said in a letter to the Uddhav Thackeray-led government, urging the State to focus on containment strategies.
The letter, based on the assessment of a Central team, notes the lack of Covid-appropriate behavior and ‘tracking and testing of cases’.
Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan, in his letter to Maharashtra Chief Secretary, said, “Maharashtra is in the beginning of a second wave of Covid-19 pandemic. There very limited active effort to track, test, isolate cases and quarantine contacts. There is no adherence to COVID appropriate behaviour among people both in rural and urban areas.”
He added: “The Central team inferred that the administrative mechanism should be re-instated to the level witnessed in August -September 2020 to contain/suppress the Covid transmission.”
He added that current case fatality was found to be very high among admitted cases in hospitals like — Government Medical College in Aurangabad and in Vasant Rao Pawar Medical College, Nashik. This needed investigation in detail, including sending samples for Whole Genome Sequencing, Bhushan said.
Meawhile, the Maharashtra government has announced fresh curbs amidst rising Covid-19 cases in the state.
The State government has also put a cap of 50 people in place for weddings, while all other public gatherings â social, cultural, political and religious â have been completely banned. In addition, not more than 20 people will be allowed at funerals.