IndiaFightsCorona 'Very worried' about Maharashtra, don't take virus for granted: Centre
New Delhi/IBNS: The Centre on Thursday raised concern over the upsurge in the coronavirus cases in Maharashtra, adding that the virus cannot be taken for granted if the country wants to be Covid-free.
The remark comes on a day when the Maharashtra government announced a week-long lockdown, from March 15 to March 21, in Nagpur, which reported over 1800 cases in 24 hours.
"As we were reaching here for this press conference, we learned that a strict lockdown is being imposed in Nagpur. So, we are reaching a situation where those approaches are being brought back," Dr. V K Paul, Chairman of National Expert Committee on Vaccine Administration, said in a media briefing.
"We are very worried about Maharashtra. This is a serious matter. This has two lessons - don't take the virus for granted, and if we have to remain Covid-free, then, we need to follow Covid-appropriate behaviour," he added.
Maharashtra remains the worst-hit state in India. It reported 13,659 coronavirus cases on Thursday itself which is 60 per cent of the country's single-day total.
The Union Health Ministry has said that eight of the 10 cities with the highest number of active cases belong to Maharashtra. They are - Pune, Nagpur, Thane, Mumbai, Amravati, Jalgaon, Nashik and Aurangabad.
Besides Maharashtra, health authorities have issued a warning for Delhi and its surrounding areas.
On Thursday morning, Delhi registered 409 new cases of COVID-19, which is the highest single-day rise in two months.
"Our word of caution is for Delhi and neighbouring areas of Noida, Faridabad, Ghaziabad. Delhi is seeing a rise. So be careful," said Dr Paul.
The last time Delhi recorded more than 400 cases was on Jan 8.
The recent spike has taken the total cases in the national capital to 6,42,439. The death count has touched 10,934 with three more fatalities.
Meanwhile, the cumulative number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country has crossed 2.60 crores as of Thursday.
A total of 2,60,73,517 vaccine doses have been given, as per the provisional report till 7 pm Thursday, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said in a statement.
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