Amid demands for a complete lockdown in Maharashtra from locals as well as ministers, it is likely that the Uddhav Thackeray Cabinet will take a decision on the same on Wednesday (May 12). The existing 'Break the Chain' lockdown order is in place till 7 am of May 15 (Saturday). However, state health minister Rajesh Tope on Tuesday (May 11) said that the Cabinet will review the situation and decide on whether to extend these lockdown-like measures or not. He further added that the state government is stressing on tracking, tracing and treating COVID-19 patients to curb the outbreak.
Tope also said that the Maharashtra government is considering pausing vaccination drive temporarily for 18-44 age group due to the shortage of vaccines. “2.75 lakh vaccine doses left for this group, that’ll be used for 45 years and above group now. Administering 2nd dose is priority,” he said.
"Efficacy of the vaccine is largely affected if the second dose is not administered in a stipulated time. To avoid such health crisis, the state government has decided to divert three lakh vials (of Covaxin) purchased for the 18-44 age category for the people above 45 years," Tope said.
He said only 35,000 vials of Covaxin are currently available with the state government for administering the second dose to people above 45 years.
On Tuesday, as per the official data, Maharashtra had 5,93,150 active COVID-19 cases and 24,920 new cases and 549 related deaths were reported in the state over the last 24 hours.
