Maha’s Kovid Curve Has Not Flattened Despite Decline In Cases, Health Min Tope; stress vaccination

Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope on Wednesday cautioned that the coronavirus curve is not flattening in the state despite a decline in the number of daily COVID-19 cases in the past few days. He said that it is a ray of hope that out of 2.25 lakh active cases, only 14 per cent are hospitalised.

Tope said he didn’t expect the situation to stabilize until late January or early February, and urged those who haven’t been vaccinated to take jabs, apart from wearing a mask-up by everyone. He stressed that vaccinations and restrictions are important to contain the spread of the infection.

Tope also said that there is a need to accelerate the vaccination rate. He said that he has demanded 50 lakh doses of Covishield and 40 lakh doses of Covaxin during his meeting with Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya. “There has been a decline in cases in the last two days, but that doesn’t mean the curve is flattening. Today there are 46,000 cases. So there is no flattening of the curve,” Tope told reporters. The state’s positivity rate is 21.04 per cent and Mumbai’s positivity rate is 27 per cent, he said, adding that only 0.32 per cent of the 2.25 lakh active cases – less than one per cent – required ventilators.