China Covid concerns: State govt to reconstitute task force, CM to hold review measures on Thursday

Nagpur Amid concerns of another Covid surge in the wake of the situation in China, Maharashtra government has decided to reconstitute the task force and take steps to prevent spread of the epidemic.

Deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, while announcing reconstitution of the task force, said the expert committee will closely monitor the changing situation at the global level. “The task force or committee of experts will keep an eye on the situation (around the world) and recommend steps that needed to be taken (to restrict the spread of the virus). The state government will implement the recommendations given by the expert panel,” he said in state assembly.

During the tenure of MVA government, then chief minister Uddhav Thackeray had constituted a task force of experts to monitor the situation and recommend steps to be taken to deal with the outbreak of the epidemic.

It had turned out to be a good move with experts guiding state’s tackling of the epidemic. The existing task force has almost become defunct as its meeting are not being held regularly, partly because the Covid was on continuous decline for several months.

Fadnavis said that the state govenrment has been coordinating with the central government in the backdrop of the explosion of the Covid-19 cases in China.

Meanwhile, chief minister Eknath Shinde has convened a review meeting on Thursday.

Leader of opposition Ajit Pawar raised the issue in the assembly and asked the government what steps are being taken by them. “The virus has wreaked havoc in China again and the patients are being admitted in cars in the absence of the hospital beds. Besides, countries like Japan, Korea, Brazil have reported new variants of the virus. Central government has alerted all the state governments about the potential spread of the pandemic. I would request the state government to apprise the house as to the precautions being taken by them,” he said during zero hour.

In the wake of the advisory from the central government, the public health department has stepped up the preparations. Public health minister Tanaji Sawant held a meeting of senior officials from the health department and took a review of the preparations. District level administrations and the hospitals have been directed to monitor the situation closely and track and test the people with symptoms. The district administration has also directed to follow the central guidelines.

The central government has directed all state governments to gear up genome sequencing of positive case samples to track Covid variants. The ministry of health and family welfare issued the advisory to all states on Tuesday in the wake of sudden spurt in Covid-19 cases in China and other countries.

As on December 20, Maharashtra has 132 active Covid-19 cases, including highest in Mumbai (26). 20 new cases were reported in the state on Tuesday.