Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray directed senior doctors and officers to ensure medicines and health equipment were available across urban and rural areas after a state-appointed task force expressed concern that a third wave of the pandemic could hit Maharashtra in a month or two if Covid-appropriate behaviour was not followed.
The CM was warned that a more virulent “Delta plus” version of the coronavirus may spark a third wave in Maharashtra at a meeting to assess the preparations for a probable third wave of the pandemic.
“The number of active patients could reach up to eight lakh, while 10 per cent out of them could be children,” said the presentation made by the state health department, as per an official release.
The conference was convened in Mumbai to assess preparations for a probable third wave of COVID-19, even as Maharashtra, the pandemic’s worst-affected state, emerges from a catastrophic second wave.
The meeting was attended by Thackeray, health minister Rajesh Tope, and members of the state task group on COVID-19. The health department’s presentation during the meeting depicted various scenarios in the event that a new wave of the illness strikes Maharashtra.
The health department said there were 19 lakh cases in the first wave (post-March 2020 outbreak), while in the second wave (which started around mid-February 2021) so far, more than 40 lakh infections had been registered in Maharashtra.
“The Delta plus variant could stoke a third wave in Maharashtra. It could spread at double the rate,” said an official during the presentation. Thackeray asked officials to be prepared to deal with any situation in terms of availability of medicines, beds and other necessary resources. “If we do not follow COVID-19-appropriate behaviour, we would be hit by the third wave before we can fully recover from the second one,” Thackeray was quoted as saying in the release at the meeting.
“We have learned lessons from the first and second waves. We have been told that Maharashtra would get around 42 crore vaccine vials from August-September. The officials need to make all necessary preparations,” he said.
In the first wave, the number of patients was highest at 3,01,752 on September 13, 2020, while it was 6,99,858 on April 22 this year during the second wave of COVID-19, the release said. The weekly positivity rate was 23.53 per cent on September 9, which was the highest in the first wave, and it reached 24.96 per cent on April 8 this year, officials said.
The task force pointed out that in some EU countries, lockdown-like measures were re-introduced following a surge in cases. Earlier this week, scientists in New Delhi said the highly transmissible Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 has mutated further to form the ‘Delta plus’ or ‘AY.1′ variant, but there is no immediate cause for concern in India as its incidence in the country is still low. The new Delta plus variant has been formed due to a mutation in the Delta or B.1.617.2 variant, first identified in India and one of the drivers of the deadly second wave, they had said.
