Maharashtra Reintroduces Masking In Public After Rise In COVID-19 Cases

After witnessing a rise in COVID-19 cases, Maharashtra Additional Chief Secretary Dr Pradeep Vyas issued a letter to district authorities reintroducing masks in closed public spaces to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

The letter issued on June 3 also provides a list of measures that need to be taken by local authorities including administering precautionary shots, improving vaccination cover for children between 12 to 18 years and conducting ILI and SARI surveillance.

Even as Vyas wrote to district authorities, Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope told reporters that the government will take a call on reintroducing mandatory masking in public places after 15 to 20 days.

The state has instructed hospitals to take stock of COVID-19 infrastructure considering the steady rise in critical patients being admitted.

District authorities have also been directed to increase RT-PCR testing stating that many districts are grossly falling short of the WHO standard of 140 tests per million per day.

Authorities have been directed to ensure that RT-PCR tests should be more than 60 per cent of tests done per day.

The state government's new order follows a letter written by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare Secretary Rajesh Bhushan to Dr Vyas pointing out a rise in COVID-19 cases in Maharashtra.

The state has seen a 23.19 per cent increase in new weekly cases with 4,883 cases being reported in the week ending on June 3, 2022.

In his letter, Bhushan noted that the districts of Mumbai Suburban, Mumbai, Thane, Palghar, Pune and Raigad have recorded an increase in weekly cases and positivity.

Maharashtra reported 563 new cases on June 3, the highest rise in cases in the country after Kerala which reported 743 cases.