Aurangabad Apr 19 PTI Maharashtra minister and NCP leader Rajesh Tope on Monday said his Shiv Sena colleagues in the state government Sandipan Bhumre and Abdul Sattar should follow the policy of the Maha Vikas Aghadi and should not turn away workers of his party Tope was speaking at an NCP workers meet here in the presence of Baramati Lok Sabha MP Supriya Sule He said NCP workers were facing problems and assured the gathering he would speak to Bhumre and Sattar to not turn them away PTI AW BNM BNM

Mumbai Mar 30 PTI Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope on Wednesday said looking at the rise in coronavirus cases in many countries it would not be right to take the risk of doing away with the face mask mandate Talking to reporters Tope said the state earlier had 46000 active COVID-19 cases and the number has now come down to 960 Currently the COVID-19 positivity rate is 04 per cent Maharashtra on Tuesday recorded 103 fresh coronavirus cases while no new death linked to the infection was registered as per the state health department Asked about relaxing the mask rule Tope said looking at the fourth wave in other countries it is not right to take the take the risk of removing that restriction For now we have not decided to put an end to the mask mandate he added The minister said many restrictions imposed earlier to contain the spread of coronavirus have been considerably eased in the state The remaining restrictions -- on travel entry in malls and compulsory two-dose vaccination -- have been kept in place to increase the inoculation rate he said There are different demands to relax restrictions All these demands will be placed before the chief minister and after talking to the task force a decision will be taken on the remaining restrictions Tope said He also said that Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray will take a decision on allowing shobha yatras on the occasion of Gudhi Padwa the first day of the Marathi New Year on April 2 PTI PR GK GK

Mumbai Mar 25 PTI The Maharashtra government has decided to give cash prizes to ASHA workers who excel in their work of taking state-run welfare schemes to the intended beneficiaries health minister Rajesh Tope said in the Legislative Council on Friday Responding to a question Tope said the best performing ASHA accredited social health activist at the state level will get Rs 1 lakh while second and third prizes are Rs 75000 and Rs 50000 respectively The best performing ASHA worker at the district level will get Rs 50000 while second best will get Rs 30000 he said adding that dues worth Rs 180 crore of ASHA workers will be cleared soon ASHA workers generally receive Rs 11000 in tribal areas and Rs 10000 in non-tribal areas Their wages will be increased by Rs 500 per month from July Tope said PTI ND BNM BNM

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], March 19 (ANI): Following the reports of a surge in COVID-19 cases in European countries and neighboring China, Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope on Saturday said the state government is on alert over the situation.

Aurangabad Feb 27 PTI Amid demands from certain quarters to reconsider the face mask rule in view of the declining COVID-19 graph in Maharashtra state Health Minister Rajesh Tope on Sunday ruled out any such relaxation though he said that the third wave of the pandemic is almost ended Topes comments come a day after Maharashtra reported 893 COVID-19 cases and eight fatalities due to the infection The peak of the third wave had seen 48000 cases per day in Maharashtra Now the number of fresh cases is not even ten per cent as compared with the peak The number of active cases is around 9000 now Tope told reporters in Jalna When asked about further relaxation of COVID-19 norms including doing away with the face mask rule Tope said Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray is constantly saying that we cannot assume that that COVID pandemic is over So the decision on mask liberty will be taken after careful consideration The Maharashtra government had on Tuesday stressed the need to continue to observe COVID-appropriate behaviour like wearing of masks maintaining social distancing and frequently sanitising hands though it withdrew the orders issued on separate dates in July and August 2021 and the SOP dated August 10 Tope said that the third wave is almost ended and the government is gradually easing the restrictions The third wave of the pandemic is almost ended But we should continue to be vigilant and not lower our guard he said Responding to a query Tope ruled out Maharashtra being made mask free soon No such proposal is under our consideration he added He also expressed concern over the expiry of 150 lakh doses of COVID-19 vaccines in Mumbai and called for a national policy to prevent wastage of the doses Tope said the Maharashtra government is following the guidelines of the COVID Task Force and the Union government on the administration of a booster dose There is no demand for administering the booster dose to all the health minister added PTI AW COR NSK NSK

Aurangabad Feb 27 PTI Though the curve of the third COVID-19 wave almost flattened the decision regarding the face mask rule will be taken carefully Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope said on Sunday Topes comments come a day after Maharashtra reported 893 COVID-19 cases and eight fatalities due to the infection The peak of the third wave had seen 48000 cases per day in Maharashtra Now the number of fresh cases is not even ten per cent as compared with the peak The number of active cases is around 9000 now Tope told reporters in Jalna When asked about further relaxation of COVID-19 norms including doing away with the face mask rule Tope said Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray is constantly saying that we cannot assume that that COVID pandemic is over So the decision on mask liberty will be taken after careful consideration The Maharashtra government had on Tuesday stressed the need to continue to observe COVID-appropriate behaviour like wearing of masks maintaining social distancing and frequently sanitising hands though it withdrew the orders issued on separate dates in July and August 2021 and the SOP dated August 10 PTI AW NSK NSK

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], January 21 (ANI): Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope on Thursday said that despite a high positive rate, at least 95 per cent of beds are vacant or the hospitalisation is lesser compared to the second wave of COVID-19.

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], January 13 (ANI): Maharashtra is facing a shortage of Covaxin and Covishield, said state health minister Rajesh Tope on Thursday.

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], January 9 (ANI): Amid the surge in COVID-19 cases, Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope on Saturday said the state government is all set to give precaution doses to people above 60 years of age from January 10.

Mumbai Dec 29 PTI Maharashtra on Wednesday recorded a spurt in new COVID-19 cases at 3900 including 85 of Omicron with the daily count rising by 1728 from a day before the state health department said even as Health minister Rajesh Tope expressed concern over the spiralling number and termed it as alarmingWith the addition of 3900 cases which were detected after 123248 coronavirus tests were conducted in the last 24 hours the statewide infection count shot up to 6665386 the health department saidState capital Mumbai also recorded a sharp rise in COVID-19 cases by clocking 2510 infections the highest daily addition since May 8 the civic body saidThe state recorded 20 fresh deaths taking the number of fatalities to 141496 the health department said in a bulletinIt said 1306 patients were discharged in the last 24 hours taking the number of recovered cases to 6506137The coronavirus recovery rate in the state is 9761 per cent it saidCurrently 122906 people are in home quarantine and 905 people in institutional quarantine the bulletin addedOn the Omicron front Maharashtra recorded 85 fresh infections the highest single-day tally by any state in the country of the new strain so farToday 85 cases of the Omicron variant have been reported in the state Of these 47 patients have been reported by the National Institute of Virology NIV - where samples were sent for genome sequencing and 38 by the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research IISER the health bulletin saidThirty-eight Omicron cases reported by IISER are from community surveillance and as per preliminary information they do not have a history of any international travel it saidOf the 47 patients reported by the Pune-based NIV 43 are international travellers and four are their close contacts the bulletin addedOn Tuesday the state had recorded 2172 cases and on Wednesday it registered nearly 80 per cent rise in infections in a span of 24 hoursHealth Minister Tope said in view of the rising coronavirus cases the existing curbs have to be observed strictly at parties and other public eventsHe said in the last eight to 10 days the active cases in the state stood in the range of 5000 to 6000On December 10 the state had 6543 active cases of COVID-19 according to a health department bulletinOn Tuesday the state had 11492 active cases and on Wednesday Dec 29 their number may cross the 20000-mark the minister said earlier in the dayHowever the health department data in the evening showed active cases stood at 14065The rise in active cases in Maharashtra is alarming he saidState Tourism minister Aaditya Thackeray urged people not to panic but exercise extreme caution in the wake sharp rise in coronavirus cases in Mumbai and stressed on vaccination and widespread use of face masksThough hospitalisations and positivity rates were low the COVID-19 cases have surged since last week Thackeray saidAfter reporting daily cases under-500 on most days in the last few months the city is witnessing a spike in infectionsHe further said that in the next 48 hours the BMC will be getting in touch with all educational institutions in the city to plan an organised vaccination drive for children in the age group of 15 to 18 years who are to be targeted in the expanded inoculation campaignThe authorities are also preparing a list of health workers frontline staff and senior citizens who are eligible to take the booster dose of COVID-19 vaccine which should be administered nine months after the second shot the tourism minister saidThackeray said all public places in the city will remain shut on December 31Speaking about the bed capacity at hospitals Thackeray said there were 54000 beds available in the city at presentWe have also asked all the Covid care jumbo centres to be at stand by at all readiness levels along with basic facilities to medical infrastructure Testing and tracing protocols for all that have been operational all through were reviewed too Thackeray tweeted later onEarlier in the day NCP leader Supriya Sule said she and her husband had tested positive for coronavirusThe health bulletin said currently 122906 people are in home quarantine and 905 people in institutional quarantineNine districts and four municipal corporations did not report any fresh COVID-19 caseThe Mumbai region recorded 3173 cases Pune 444 Nashik 131 Kolhapur 82 Nagpur 34 Latur 16 Aurangabad 13 and Akola region sevenAn administrative region consists of a set of districtsThe Mumbai region reported eights deaths followed by Pune 10 while Nashik and Akola regions recorded one death each the bulletin saidNagpur Latur Aurangabad and Kolhapur regions did not report any fresh deathCoronavirus figures of Maharashtra are as follows Positive cases 6665386 new cases 3900 death toll 141496 recoveries 6506137 active cases 14065 total tests 68768760 PTI KK PR RSY RSY