Mumbai With the state reporting over 1,000 cases for a second day in a row, chief minister Uddhav Thackeray has asked people to follow all Covid norms if they don’t want restrictions to be imposed again.
In a review meeting of the state task force held by the chief minister at his official residence at Malabar Hills on Thursday, the state decided to monitor the cases for a fortnight before taking any further decision.
Members of the task force said that the state government should not show haste and monitor positivity, hospitalisation and mortality rates for another fortnight as the Omicron variants are less severe compared to the previous strains.
“Of the total 4,559 active cases, only three patients are on ventilators across the state and death figures are still negligible,” said a senior officer, on conditions of anonymity.
“The number of Covid patients has been on rise for the last few days. The state government will be monitoring the situation for the next two weeks. If people don’t want restrictions to be imposed, they should follow all Covid-appropriate behaviour like wearing masks, getting vaccinated, washing hands and maintaining social distance,” Thackeray appealed in a statement.
He directed the health department to conduct the structural audit of the Covid field hospitals and ensure they are fully-equipped with all the necessary facilities and staff. He further directed them to increase the number of tests, watch for any new variant and ascertain their transmissibility, if any.
The chief minister asked the state administration to study the precautionary measures taken for school-going children globally and proportion of their infection. He also asked people to get tested if they have any symptoms.
He advised doctors to recommend people for Covid tests because symptoms of monsoon-related diseases are similar to that of Covid.
Dr Pradeep Vyas, additional chief secretary for health, informed that the Covid cases rose seven times in the last one and half months. On April 16, the state had 626 active cases, which has increased to 4,559 at present.
“Around 97% of the total cases are from Mumbai, Thane, Pune and urban areas. The positivity rate of Mumbai is 6%, double than the state average — 3%,” Dr Vyas said in the task force meeting.
In the last one month, the state has reported 9,354 cases, much higher than March and April when 8,319 and 3,708 cases were reported respectively.
On Thursday, the state reported 1,045 cases and one death. Mumbai clocked 704 cases, highest in the state and one death.
In the last 24 hours, the state tested 26,548 samples and had a positivity rate of 3.93%. However, the overall positivity rate of the state stood at 9.74%, stated a release issued by the state health department. The state also vaccinated 65,707 people on Friday.
