Efforts on to prevent second wave of COVID-19: Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray

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The Maharashtra government is striving to see there is no second wave of COVID-19 in the state, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said on Tuesday during a meeting held by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Thackeray also said hospitals will be set up in all districts of the state to control the epidemic, according to an official statement.

The chief minister said Maharashtra did not hide a single COVID-19 case and death due to the disease and shared information with transparency.

Modi held a meeting with chief ministers of Gujarat, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh via video conferencing to review measures taken to tackle COVID-19.

During the meeting, the prime minister talked about the need to bring COVID-19 mortality rate down to less than one per cent, the statement said.

"Mortality rate in the state is being reduced and praise is being heaped for controlling the situation in Dharavi and Worli in Mumbai.

"But the battle is still not over. Efforts are on to see there is no second wave of COVID-19 in the state," the statement quoted Thackeray as saying.

The chief minister said it has been observed that after recovering from COVID-19, patients contracted some other diseases, and called for setting up a mechanism to treat such individuals.

He also expressed the need to conduct research into how and why different types of virus originate.

Thackeray also reiterated the demand for not holding the final year examinations for students of non-professional courses to ensure their lives are not risked in view of the current situation.

He made a strong pitch for declaring students as passed by giving them aggregate marks, and called for taking a decision on it at the national-level.

A decision needs to be taken in the case of final year medical education students also, he added.

Thackeray also said there are 3.5 lakh beds equipped with ventilators and other facilities in the state.

With no COVID-19 vaccine available so far, use of masks and observing social distancing are the only ways to tackle the disease, he added.

During the meeting, Modi said 80 per cent of the COVID-19 cases in the country are from these 10 states.

He said the country will emerge victorious in its fight against the pandemic if the novel coronavirus is defeated in these states, the statement said.

Union ministers Rajnath Singh, Nirmala Sitharaman and Harsh Vardhan took part in the meeting.

Maharashtra Public Health Minister Rajesh Tope also participated in the meeting.