Easing of Covid-19 curbs to depend on oxygen availability: Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday said the easing of Covid19 restrictions in the state will be based on the availability of oxygen and it was up to the people to prevent or invite a third wave of the pandemicInaugurating a virtual medical conference Thackeray asked political parties to refrain from indulging in politics and demanding reopening of places where crowds cannot be avoidedCases of dengue and malaria are also increasing but their symptoms are different this time Therefore such patients must undergo COVID19 test Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeraymdash ANI ANI September 5 2021Medical practitioners from various parts of the state as well as state Covid19 task force members attended the virtual conferenceDont play with the lives of people Hold agitations but against Covid19 It is up to us to prevent a third wave or invite it the chief minister saidHe claimed Maharashtra is the only state which has upgraded its health infrastructure to tackle the pandemic like no other country has doneWe are only falling short of oxygen production which takes a little longer At present our daily oxygen production is around 1200 to 1300 metric tonne which is used for industrial as well as medical purposes For the industrial purpose oxygen is required in steel glass and pharma sectors We need 150 metric tonne daily for nonCovid19 patients and 200 metric tonne for Covid19 patients he saidAlso Read Mumbai Slums give Covid19 a miss but highrise buildings become targetDuring the second wave of Covid19 the state required 1700 to 1800 metric tonne oxygen daily which it had to procure from other states the CM saidThackeray said he has given instructions to increase the oxygen production in the state to 3000 metric tonne from the present 1400 metric tonneBut that will take time We may not get enough oxygen from other states if the number of cases there increase he saidThe chief minister said even though the second wave of Covid19 is under control there is a slight increase in the number of daily cases in the last few daysWe have to avoid crowdinghave patience We should not be required to close the places which have been opened up now he saidThackeray said people should know that the enemy is yet not completely defeatedthe thick tail is still thereThe need of the hour is to have a stock of medicines and oxygen he said and asked hospitals and clinics to have an audit of their electric equipmentMaharashtra health secretary Pradeep Vyas in a presentation during the conference said since the outbreak of the Covid19 pandemic on March 9 2020 the highest daily spike in the state was 24886 on September 19 last yearDuring the second wave the highest single day spike was 68631 on April 18 2021 he saidThe highest number of active cases during the first wave was 309752 on September 17 2020 and during the second wave the highest number of active cases was 699858 on April 22 2021On Saturday the number of active cases in the state was 52025 and singleday spike was of 4130 cases the official saidIn the last 15 days there was no reduction in the number of new cases reported daily and active cases he said during the conferenceFive Maharashtra districts which account for 72 per cent of the active cases are Pune Thane Satara Ahmednagar Mumbai the official saidBesides the districts of concern where the positivity rate is on an upward swing since August 29 are Pune Ahmednagar Satara Solapur Sangli Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg he addedVyas also said these districts will need a special caution especially after the Ganesh Chaturthi the 10day festival which will commence later this weekHe said the second wave is on a downslide in the Marathwada and Vidarbha regionsSo far 627 crore people have been inoculated against Covid19 in the state and out of them 171 crore are fully vaccinated he saidThe official also informed that 45 per cent of people aged 18 and above have so far been vaccinated in the state and in the state capital Mumbai the figure is 80 per centThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever