Maharashtra reports 56286 cases, seeks permission to produce Covaxin at Haffkine Biopharmaceutical

Maharashtra on Thursday reported 56286 new cases in the state taking the total number of active cases to 5,21,317.

While Mumbai reported 8938 cases, Thane reported 899 cases. Active cases in Mumbai stands at 83693 with 11881 deaths.

The Chief Minister of Maharashtra Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday said permission has been sought from the Centre for Mumbai based Haffkine Bio-Pharmaceutical Corporation Ltd to make the Covid vaccines. About 126 million vaccines could be made by the company.

Calling the pace of testing in Maharashtra good, the CM said the state has 71% RT-PCR and 28% antigen in all the tests, which should be increased, though satisfactory.

"While the state was returning to normal, the infection was exacerbated by mutations in the virus. The same thing was happening in other parts of the world. So it is a fact that despite Maharashtra's care, this terrible increase has taken place," added the CM.

Talking about vaccines, the CM said the objective is to vaccinate about 1.77 crore people in the priority group and for these 40 lakh vaccines should be supplied every week. So far, the state has received 1 crore 6 lakh 23 thousand 500 doses. To date, 92 to 95 lakh doses have been given. At present, Maharashtra has very few stocks and some centers are closed.

The central government has said that 17.43 lakh doses will be given after April 15, but this will hamper the vaccination drive. "Therefore, full delivery should be done as per our demand," he added.

He reiterated his demand that everyone under the age of 25 needs vaccination.

Maharashtra is also in dire need of oxygen and the CM said it should be supplied. "Given the current number of covid patients, the demand for oxygen will be around 1700-2500 MT by the end of April. Therefore, the supply of liquid medical oxygen to Maharashtra is urgently needed to keep the supply running smoothly," he said.