Maharashtra Covid-19 lockdown news live: State stares at major oxygen scarcity
Over 61% of ICU beds in Maharashtra are currently occupied while 34% of the 9,000 ventilators available for Covid patients are engaged, state data has revealed. In parts of districts such as Nagpur, Aurangabad, Jalgaon, Latur and Yavatmal, 90-100% beds are already occupied. Stay with TOI for all the latest updates:
Packet milk sales register 30% drop due to curbs
Milk sales across Maharashtra have dropped by almost 25-30%, from an average per day sales of 1.2 crore litres to 86-90 lakh litres since the lockdown-like restrictions came into force, rough estimates from the Maharashtra Milk Producers and Processors Association have indicated. “Traders have cut down on milk purchases due to restrictions on market operations, fear of wastage and drop in customers. Retailers selling milk in open markets have also been unable to resume sales after the restrictions. If the major markets are closed, there will be an impact,” Prakash Kutwal, secretary of Maharashtra Milk Producers and Processors Association, told TOI.
Manpower shortage to hit inoculation drive in Chakan MIDC area
Manpower shortage at primary health centre (PHC) at Karanjvihare in Khed tehsil is likely to hamper vaccination drive in Chakan industrial area, said health officials. Currently, PHC has only six vaccinators covering 34 villages. “We need extra manpower if we want to vaccinate employees working in Chakan industries,” said Dr Jayshree Mahajan, in-charge, PHC. On Wednesday, the PHC couldn’t vaccinate employees as it didn’t have adequate vaccine doses. Dr BB Gadve, tehsil health officer, said, “We have already sought 25 doctors and 30 nurses for Covid duty.” District collector Rajesh Deshmukh conceded that there was a shortage of vaccines on Wednesday in the district.
State stares at major oxygen scarcity in less than a week
Over 61% of ICU beds in Maharashtra are currently occupied while 34% of the 9,000 ventilators available for Covid patients are engaged, state data has revealed. In parts of districts such as Nagpur, Aurangabad, Jalgaon, Latur and Yavatmal, 90-100% beds are already occupied. CM Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday said the solution to curb the spread was to follow Covid norms as there are limits to which medical infrastructure can be augmented. Maharashtra is also staring at a massive shortage of oxygen supply in less than a week’s time. Principal health secretary Dr Pradeep Vyas said on Wednesday daily consumption was exceeding 850 metric tonne (MT) against the state’s daily production capacity of 1,150MT. “We have told the Centre we could be using up all oxygen that we are producing in a week’s time. We will have to borrow from other states,” he said.
Patients’ kin face hardships in procuring anti-viral drug
Vedwati Petkar visited several hospitals in the city on Tuesday but failed to get the muchneeded six doses of anti-viral drug remdesivir for her mother. “My mother is admitted to a hospital in Katraj. I stood in the queue for four hours in front of the Chemist Association of Pune District at Shukrawar Peth hoping to get some injections. I have been searching for the drug for the last two days,” Petkar said. Like her, relatives of several Covid patients, who are hypoxic and admitted to small and medium hospitals, are facing hardships in getting the vials in Pune. FDA officials clarified that retail chemist shops were not allowed to store and sell the drug. S B Patil, joint commissioner (drugs), FDA, Pune, said, “Only hospitals and their pharmacies can procure remdesivir by contacting the distributors. Hence, patients’ relatives should not be compelled to procure the drug.”
Small & medium hosps reel from remdesivir shortage
Small and medium-sized private hospitals treating Covid patients in the city have run out of remdesivir stock and are now bending over backward to procure it due to the FDA’s “failure to sensitize people” about the drug’s correct procurement methods. According to the state government’s diktat, hospitals providing Covid-19 treatment and their attached medical stores will get the intravenous drug either directly from the pharma firm or through notified drug distributors.
In home isolation? You may have to sign Rs 25k bond
Covid-19 patients opting for home quarantine may soon have to give an undertaking stating that they will follow all isolation norms or pay Rs25,000 as fine. Legal experts and activists slammed the Pune civic body’s move, saying it would do more harm than good during the pandemic. The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) is contemplating to make such an undertaking/ bond mandatory.
Almost 40,000 tested in PMR in 24 hours
The daily testing for Covid-19 in the Pune Metropolitan Region (PMR) increased to almost 40,000 on Wednesday, its highest so far, while the daily cases surged marginally to 10,907 in the past 24 hours as against Tuesday’s 10,226. A total of 39,939 people were tested for Covid infection in PMR on Wednesday., including 26,120 tests from the Pune municipal limits alone. Besides, as many as 7,832 patients were discharged in PMR in the last 24 hours, taking total discharges above 5.09 lakh.
Stock of 12-13 lakh doses last for 3 days now: Tope
State health minister Rajesh Tope said the state has sought 40 lakh vaccine doses per week to meet the desired target of vaccinating nearly 6 lakh people every day. The state was currently vaccinating 4.5 lakh people every day and so a stock of 12-13 lakh doses would last for three days. “We have accepted the challenge that Union minister Prakash Javdekar had given to us: to scale up testing and vaccinating 6 lakh people a day. But the Centre should now match their supply pace to our vaccination speed,” said Tope.
Scores of beneficiaries turned away after several hubs run out of shots
District authorities will now have to wait a few more days to again aim for one lakh daily vaccinations. On Wednesday, a serious shortage of doses forced many vaccination centres in the region to call off their sessions earlier than expected. In Satara, officials had to halt all vaccinations due to the shortage. In a press statement later, the Satara zilla parishad said the drives will resume once it has enough stock of doses. So far, nearly 2.56 lakh people have been vaccinated in Satara.
Maharashtra's active cases could top 11 lakh by April 30: Centre
Active cases in Maharashtra could exceed 11lakh by April 30—more than double the present load—if people don’t adhere to the restrictions. The Centre shared this grim projection with the state government on Wednesday, particularly highlighting that the entire country had 11 lakh active cases at its peak during the first wave, which Maharashtra alone could be adding if the transmission continued unabated
The Pune Municipal Corporation has planned to take over all the beds in city's six private hospitals for treatment of Covid-19 patients. The beds will be attached to the municipal Covid care system in next couple of days.
Maharashtra reports 59,907 new Covid-19 cases, 30,296 recoveries and 322 deaths in the last 24 hours. (ANI)
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