NEWS

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Friday refused to impose a complete strict lockdown across that the state, noting that the daily cases have come down as people are following appropriate COVID behaviour.

"We have been able to contain the spread of COVID-19 due to restrictions and lockdown. Our estimate was that there might be 10 lakh positive active patients, but now it is 7 lakh cases," Thackeray said at a virtual press conference, as reported by a news agency.

Thackeray, however, said that Maharashtra would need more medical oxygen if cases rise in the state. Urging the Centre to increase its assistance, Thackeray said that Maharashtra is now setting up COVID-19 centres near oxygen plants to avoid delay in supply to patients.

Apollo Hospitals Group on Friday announced that it will begin vaccinations for the 18-44 age group from May 1. Noting the need for inoculations to mitigate the deadly covid-19 second wave, the group said it has taken the initiative and made arrangements to procure the vaccines directly from the manufacturers as per the government directive.

A day ahead of the launch of the government’s third phase of vaccination for all adults, the hospital in its statement said, “The vaccination program will begin with limited quantities and will be ramped up in the weeks ahead. Apollo Hospitals will also be organizing special camps for corporates.” Apollo Hospital said it will be administering Covishield doses.

At a time when the country is facing severe shortage of oxygen to treat critical Covid-19 patients, the Indian Navy has again launched Operation Samudra Setu to help in faster transportation of medical oxygen and other requirements from other countries.

Navy spokesman said Indian Naval warships have been deployed to undertake shipment of liquid medical oxygen-filled cryogenic containers and associated medical equipment to support nation’s fight against Covid-19 pandemic.

INS Kolkata and INS Talwar have entered port of Manama in Bahrain for embarking and transporting 40MT of liquid medical oxygen (LMO) to Maharashtra’s capital city Mumbai. INS Jalashwa is enroute to Bangkok, while INS Airavat to Singapore for similar missions.

The ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are locked in a close contest for West Bengal’s 294 seats, exit polls showed on Thursday, with some of them giving chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s party an upper hand in the fiercely fought election battle.

2016 results: The TMC won 211 of the 293 seats it contested. The BJP could manage just three (it contested 291 seats). The alliance of Left parties and the Congress won 76 seats. The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha won three, while one seat was won by an independent candidate.