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Second wave of COVID-19 is here, says Centre
The Centre said that there is very limited active effort to track, test, isolate coronavirus cases and quarantine contacts.
Highlights
- Maharashtra is at the beginning of the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic, according to a report.
- A central team visited the state between March 7 and March 11 to check rising cases.
- It's the worst coronavirus-hit state in India.
New Delhi: Maharashtra, the worst coronavirus-hit state in India, is at the beginning of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a report of the central team that visited the state to check the rising cases.
The team visited Maharashtra between March 7 and March 11 to see the COVID-I9 management activities being undertaken by the State. The team also had a briefing meeting with the Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.
Subsequently, the report of the Central team said that Maharashtra is at the beginning of the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic and that there is very limited active effort to track, test, isolate cases and quarantine contacts.
"There is no adherence to COVID-19 appropriate behaviour among people both in rural and urban areas," the report said.
The central team inferred that the administrative mechanism should be re-instated to the level witnessed in August-September 2020 to contain, supress the COVID-19 transmission.
The team conducted field visits in the districts of Mumbai, Thane, Nashik, Dhule, Jalgaon and Aurangabad and held desk review with the District officers. The team visited active containment zones, COVID-19 Hospitals and Dedicated COVID Health Centres.
According to official data, Maharashtra reported 17,864 new COVID-19 infections in the last 24 hours that took the state's active count to 1,31,812. It has so far witnessed a total of 23,47,328 infections, of which, 52,909 are coronavirus-related fatalities.
In India, eight states namely Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Gujarat, Karnataka and Haryana are displaying an upward trajectory in daily new cases.
Earlier on Monday, the Maharashtra government issued stricter COVID-19 guidelines, which will be in effect till March 31 to curb the spread of coronavirus. Maharashtra, notably, has also imposed the COVID-19 lockdown and night curfew in several districts.