PUNE: Ten Maharashtra districts, including Pune, still have a high number of active Covid cases and full resumption of economic activity will have to wait until they stabilise, state health minister Rajesh Tope said on Thursday.
Overall, the state is reporting 7,000-8,000 new Covid cases daily and has been seeing a 'plateau' in its graph for over a month now.
But these 10 districts' caseload, Tope said, is keeping the state's active count high. "The districts make up for 92% of the state's active caseload. We need to flatten their curve through aggressive vaccination, especially in hotspots. That should be followed by good testing and appropriate protocols," he said.
The 10 districts are: Pune, Thane, Sangli, Kolhapur and Mumbai (in the top 5), followed by Satara, Ahmednagar, Raigad, Solapur and Nashik.
Tope said he has asked authorities in the 10 districts to make sure all Covid protocols are followed and action is taken against those found violating rules.
"There are nearly one lakh active cases in the state. Unless this number reduces, we cannot remove the state-wide trigger," he said.
State districts are currently under restrictions marked under level 3, or above. Most businesses statewide are operating for limited hours.
Tope said unless the 10 districts see improvement, restrictions cannot be lifted. He added that this point has been conveyed to collectors and commissioners of all regions.
He said, "The chief minister spearheads disaster management and all restrictions and relaxations are being carried out as per the Disaster Management Act. The chief minister is reviewing the numbers and he believes unless restrictions are properly imposed, there cannot be relaxations as that may fuel a surge in cases."
Key cities such as Pune, Mumbai and Nagpur and districts in western Maharashtra need to make sure their caseload doesn't rise, he said, adding that adequate testing, vaccination coverage and health protocols are vital.
State task force members said Maharashtra's second wave has had a 'thick tail' and all efforts are on to ensure cases do not spike again, especially in the 10 districts.
"Better containment measures, improved testing and vaccination is the way forward," task force member Dr Shashank Joshi said. Dr Joshi said there's a need to ring-fence these districts before deploying extensive containment measures such as contact tracing, isolation and stricter curbs with reviews every two weeks.
He added that the lead variant in state is still Delta, with a small scattering of Kappa and Delta-plus.
