Maha govt to launch ‘Mission Kawach Kundal’

Mumbai, Oct 07 (PTI): Maharashtra will undertake a special vaccination drive against coronavirus from October 8 to 14, with a target of inoculating 15 lakh people everyday, state Health Minister Rajesh Tope said on Thursday.
The ‘Mission Kawach Kundal’ is being undertaken as the Centre has set a target to inoculate 100 crore people by October 15, Tope told reporters, adding that Union Health minister Mansukh Mandaviya held a discussion with him over this on Wednesday.
Tope said Mandaviya told him that Maharashtra should play a greater role in this initiative and also assured him that there will be no shortage of vaccines for the state.
We will launch ‘Mission Kawach Kundal’ from October 8 to 14 under which we plan to vaccinate 15 lakh people everyday, he said.
According to the CoWIN app, till Thursday noon, over 92.85 crore doses were administered. Maharashtra has so far inoculated 8.54 crore people.
Tope said the state had achieved the target of inoculating 15.16 lakh people in a day in the past.
He said the state’s target is to inoculate 9.15 crore people (eligible for taking vaccine in the state). Of them, six crore people have been administered the first dose, he said, adding that 3.20 crore people are yet to receive the first jab.
If these 3.20 crore are given the first dose, then everyone aged 18 and above will be vaccinated, he said.
The minister said so far, 2.5 crore people have been given the second dose of vaccine.
If the first dose is prioritised, then the fear of the third wave (of COVID-19) will be minimised. The severity will be less and ICU and oxygen demand will be under control and deaths could be averted, Tope said.
Ahead of the special inoculation drive, meetings with district administration were undertaken to assess any shortcomings that could be addressed.
The minister said steps will be taken to mobilise people to get vaccinated. Religious and social leaders, NGOs and social organisations will also be roped-in for this, he added.
On Wednesday, Maharashtra reported 2,876 new coronavirus cases, which raised the state’s tally of infections to 65,67,791, while 90 fatalities pushed the death toll to 1,39,362, as per the state health department.
Besides, 2,763 patients recovered on Wednesday, raising the count of recoveries to 63,91,662, leaving the state with 33,181 active cases, it said.

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Maha
Maharashtra CM Udhhav Thackeray and his family visit a temple on the first day of the Navratri festival in Mumbai, Thursday.

‘Religious places reopen in Maha’
After remaining closed for nearly six months due to the COVID-19 pandemic, religious places reopened in Maharashtra on Thursday, with devotees seen visiting various temples and mosques in Mumbai and other places since early morning.
Chief Minister Uddhav Thackarey along with his wife Rashmi Thackeray and two sons Aaditya and Tejas visited the Mumba Devi temple here around 8.45 am and offered prayer to the Goddess, as the reopening of religious places coincided with the beginning of the nine-day Navratri festival.
Since early morning, devotees were seen visiting various temples in the state capital Mumbai while adhering to the mask and social distancing norms.
Mosques in the city also witnessed a steady stream of the faithful since morning.
The CM and his family members, all wearing masks and following the social distancing rule, were there in the Mumba Devi temple premises for about half-an-hour.
Mumbai Mayor Kishori Pednekar was also present there along with the CM.
After offering prayers, the chief minister extended greetings to citizens on the occasion of the Navratri festival.
“It is the responsibility of all to observe health protocols at the places of worship in view of the COVID-19 pandemic,” he said.
The CM said he prayed to Goddess Mumba Devi to eradicate the coronavirus completely.
He said the trustees and priests of all places of worship should ensure that devotees follow discipline while offering prayers, and the shrine premises are cleaned and sanitised frequently and proper social distancing is followed.
“We can set an example in this regard,” he said.

He also praised places of worship like the famous Siddhivinayak temple here for using QR code and other technologies to facilitate online darshan for devotees.