No home isolation to be allowed in 18 Maharashtra districts with high Covid-19 positivity rate: Rajesh Tope

The Maharashtra government has decided to stop home quarantining of Covid19 patients in 18 districts where the positivity rate is high and all active patients in these areas would be admitted to Covid Care Centers health minister Rajesh Tope said here on TuesdayOf 36 districts in the state Satara Sindhudurg Ratnagiri Osmanabad Beed Raigad Pune Hingoli Akola Amravati Kolhapur Thane Sangli Gadchiroli Wardha Nashik Ahmednagar and Latur have aboveaverage positivity rates as per the health department dataOrdinarily asymptomatic patients or those who have mild symptoms of coronavirus infection are advised home isolationThe state has 327000 active Covid19 cases and the recovery rate has improved to 93 per cent The case positivity rate proportion of positive cases in tested samples is around 12 per cent while the case fatality rate is 15 per cent Tope told reporters hereAlso Read Maharashtra to get 60000 vials of medicine for mucormycosis from June 1 Rajesh TopeBut the positivity rate in 18 districts is higher than the state average he saidThe state government has decided to stop home isolation completely in these 18 districts The district collectors have been asked to set up more Covid Care Centers CCCs and admit all active patients there he saidThe collectors have also been asked to utilise the funds from the premium collected on the auction of minor minerals for setting up CCCs in villages he addedTesting has to be done in a focused manner Once a person tests positive for coronavirus all high and low risks persons who may have come in contact with the patient should be tested The collectors of the 18 districts with high positivity rate have been instructed to avoid random testing in large numbers to artificially bring down the positivity rate the health minister saidAll district collectors have also been directed to complete fire safety audits of hospitals in their areas he informedAsha Accredited Social Health Activist workers will be trained to conduct Rapid Antigen Tests and use selftesting kits Tope said adding they will be asked to encourage villagers to undergo testing and also to spread awareness about the importance of vaccinationOn the global tender issued by the state for coronavirus vaccines the minister said ldquoThere has been no response from any vaccine producer We have sent emails for SputnikV vaccine to the Russian manufacturing firm but are yet to hear from them The Centre should float a tender on behalf of the statesThis 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