Maharashtra COVID-19 curbs may be eased further in March, says health minister

With daily cases declining and the third wave on the wane, coronavirus-related restrictions are likely to be eased further in Maharashtra in March, but mask mandate and social distancing norms will continue to remain in place

PTI

February 21, 2022 / 20:20 IST

Representative image (REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui)

With daily cases declining and the third wave on the wane, coronavirus-related restrictions are likely to be eased further in Maharashtra in March, but mask mandate and social distancing norms will continue to remain in place, Health Minister Rajesh Tope said on Monday.

Talking to reporters in the adjoining Jalna district, he cited a letter from the Union government asking states to review, amend or do away with additional COVID-19 restrictions after considering the trend of new cases and positivity rate in their regions.

Tope said the state task force on COVID-19 also favours easing of curbs, but a final decision on the issue will be taken by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. "I expect further relaxation in restrictions next month. The Chief Minister will take a decision on this,” he added.

He further said, "In the letter, the central government has clearly mentioned that every state should bring down the number of restrictions and focus on ensuring COVID-19-appropriate behaviour among people along with vaccination.”

"Use of face masks, hand sanitiser, and social distancing should continue in a big country like ours…we cannot stop such measures immediately in the pandemic,” the minister said."

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

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