Maharashtra govt aims to vaccinate 300,000 people per day: Rajesh Tope

Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope on Thursday said that his government is aiming to vaccinate 3 lakh people daily amidst a surge in coronavirus cases in the state.

While speaking to reporters, he informed that although numbers are increasing and the state is facing the second peak of infections.

"We are moving toward another peak in infections of COVID-19 but there is no need to panic. About 95 per cent of all patients are asymptomatic. We want to be aggressive in vaccination. Three lakh doses per day is our target. I will be monitoring this myself," Tope said.

He further assured that there were enough beds available for patients, both in government and private hospitals.

"Putting cities and districts under lockdown, partial lockdown, or night curfews aims to put a pause on the spread of the virus. Our focus is on tracking, tracing and vaccination," he added.

Meanwhile, Mumbai Mayor Kishori Pednekar on Thursday said that she is considering a night curfew in the city and shifting the crowded markets to new sites in light of the increasing cases.

A complete lockdown has been announced in Nagpur from March 15 to March 21 in view of the rising infections. The Latur district administration, meanwhile, imposed a night curfew between 8 pm and 5 am to contain the spread of the virus in the district till March 31.

Maharashtra continues to remain one of the worst affected states in the country, with 23,179 new COVID-19 cases, 9,138 discharges and 84 deaths being reported in the last 24 hours, the state health department informed on Thursday.

The total number of cases in the state now stands at 23,70,507, including 1,52,760 active cases and 53,080 deaths.

A total of 36,39,989 people have been vaccinated against COVID-19 in the state till March 17, the Maharashtra government said in a statement on Thursday. 2,74,037 people (2,22,771 Covishield and 51,266 Covaxin) were vaccinated in 2908 sessions.