The government is far from reaching its target of vaccinating (double dosing) the priority group of 27 crore senior citizens, 2 crore frontline workers and 1 crore healthcare workers. Of the 30 crore Indians in the priority group, which were to get both shots against Covid-19, less than 10 percent have been covered.
The government seems to be losing the momentum in the Covid management in the state because of inconsistent policy
Even as the Supreme Court lauded Mumbai for its management of limited oxygen supply and urged other cities to follow its example, Maharashtra seems to be losing its momentum in Covid-19 management in terms of testing and isolating suspected patients. A flip-flop in policy is said to be behind this slowing of tempo.
From just one test lab in March 2020, Maharashtra increased their number to 609 by April 21, helping the state to drastically improve the daily number of tests. A large number of asymptomatic cases, however, saw testing decline between November 2020 and February 2021. An average of 50,000 tests were conducted every day between November 2020 and February 2021. The state has conducted 28.9 million tests between March 9, 2020 and May 7, 2021, of which 17.27 per cent samples tested positive.
Health minister Rajesh Tope claims that the state has been conducting an average of 225,000 tests every day. “There is no shortage of kits and laboratories,” he says. The problem is the delay in results. In big cities like Mumbai, Thane and Pune, results are available in 30-40 hours. In other parts of the state, there is a wait of 48-72 hours. Tope says he has asked the laboratories to make all effort to make test results available in 24 hours. “As more and more people are opting for tests, the laboratories are feeling the pressure. We have asked them to collect only that many samples as they can test in time.”
Almost 25 per cent of the daily testing is being conducted in capital Mumbai where the daily average in April was 44,000. Leader of the opposition Devendra Fadnavis says the less number of testing is projecting a false picture. “There is no need to create paranoia but give a real picture,” he demanded in a letter to chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on April 30.
The Aam Aadmi Party has claimed that it received great public support in the Uttar Pradesh panchayat polls held in April. The Congress, too, said it has done well and is ready for the state assembly election in 2022.
In the Uttar Pradesh panchayat election held in April, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Congress have claimed that they have done very well. The result trends showed the Samajwadi Party on top, leaving the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s think tank with a lot of work.
For parties like AAP and Congress, these elections were an opportunity to seal their spots in Uttar Pradesh’s politics ahead of the state assembly election in 2022.
AAP has claimed that it received huge public support and has performed much better than the Congress in the panchayat polls. On the other hand, the Congress said it has done well under the leadership of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.