Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday announced a ‘Corona-free village’ drive to check the spread of COVID-19 in rural areas while noting that the surge in cases in some districts in the rural hinterland was a cause for concern and must be immediately stopped.
He said that the Maharashtra government had decided to extend lockdown-like restrictions in the State till June 15 and recklessly stepping out of homes was akin to giving an invitation to a third wave of the pandemic.
“For some reason, there has been a gradual increase in cases in some districts in the rural parts of the State. If every citizen here resolves to keep his or her home corona-free, then eventually their village, and ultimately the State, will be free of the scourge of the virus. Popatrao Pawar in Hiwre Bazaar, Ruturaj Deshmukh in Mohol, and Komal Karpe from Solapur have made their villages corona-free. If they have been able to manage this, why not other headmen of other villages?” he asked.
Mr. Thackeray also said the Central government must come up with a uniform policy on the conduct of State board and other exams. “While a State where the situation under control may conduct exams, the situation has yet to stabilise in other States. While we will announce the decision on Class XII board exams soon, there must be a uniform policy on this. Some radical decisions need to be taken in education during the pandemic by the Centre just like the work from home policy for corporates and private offices,” he said.
The Chief Minister said despite a significant decline in cases and fatalities, the second wave was not yet fully under control and future steps on relaxation of norms must be taken carefully if Maharashtra was not to face a dire shortage of oxygen again.
“The second wave has been lethal, with the State witnessing 70,000 cases per day at its peak. In the case of a third wave, we will have to plan carefully, if we are not to face any oxygen shortage again. As if these woes were not enough, we have been bedevilled by the spectre of mucormycosis,” he said, adding that the State had 3,000 cases till date of ‘black fungus’.
Mr. Thackeray noted that the State’s recovery rate (which is currently above 93%) was higher than the recovery rate at the same time last year, while the case fatality rate was lower (1.65% this year as opposed to 2.65% last year) than last year’s figure.
“However, this time, it has been a ‘long Covid’ for many patients who required oxygen for a considerably longer period. We have increased the number of testing labs to 600 as well as considerably enhanced the ICU and oxygen beds. The total beds have been increased to 4.5 lakh. But I still break into a sweat when I think of those desperate days a month ago when frenzied messages filtered in from districts stating that oxygen there would last only a few hours,” the Chief Minister said, cautioning against any complacency in view of declining cases.
“The Maharashtra government is being lauded worldwide for its efforts in getting the second wave under control. The full credit for this goes to the public, for if the public does not support the government, nothing can be achieved… I do not like the bitter task of imposing restrictions,” Mr. Thackeray said, exhorting the public to behave responsibly and adhere to appropriate COVID-19 behaviour.
Informing that a total of 2.15 crore (of an estimated populace of 12 crore) had been vaccinated till date, Mr. Thackeray said the vaccination pace would pick up after June once the supply of vaccines improved.
