16,000 medical staff trained in Maharashtra for vaccine drive: Rajesh Tope

The Maharashtra government has completed the preliminary task of training 16000 medical staff for mass vaccination against COVID19 and a vaccine when it is made available will be administered in two dosages Health Minister Rajesh Tope said on WednesdayHe said there is no need to panic over the new strain of the novel coronavirus detected in the UK and the Punebased National Institute of Virology NIV is studying the variant which is said to be highly infectiousMedicines being used currently for treating COVID19 patients will be used against the new strain of coronavirus he told reporters hereTope said the state government has taken a slew of measures like mandatory institutional quarantine for passengers returning from Britain and night curfew in cities to deal with the emerging situationEach person who enrolls for COVID19 vaccination will have to take two dosages of the vaccine Bharat Biotech and Punebased Serum Institute of India have sought nod for mass scale vaccine distributionThe ball is in the Centres court Once approval is given states will be allocated to the companies to distribute their vaccines the minister saidHe said all requirements for the vaccine drive have been completed in Maharashtra the state worst hit by COVID19 where more than 19 lakh cases have been reported so farThe Maharashtra government has completed the preliminary stage of training 16000 medical staff for mass scale vaccinationThey are ready to scale up the vaccination drive whenever the Centre permits Cold chain required for transportation and storage of vaccine doses has been also put in place Tope saidWherever any shortcomings are found the Centre has assured to help the state said the ministerThere is no need to panic about the new strain of the novel coronavirus detected in the UK and other European countriesPunebased NIV is studying the new strain and it will soon submit a report to the ICMR to form a fresh set of instructions he saidIt is true that the new strain is highly infectious It spreads faster than the previous one A preliminary study says it could be 70 per cent more infectious Tope saidAsked about the line of treatment in case a person is found infected with the new COVID19 variant he said the treatment will be same as in case of current patientsMedicines used currently for treating COVID19 patients are going to be used against the new strain of coronavirusWe have been told that the recently developed vaccines have some impact on the new strain of coronavirus as well said the health ministerWe are putting the UK returned passengers into institutional quarantine Similarly to put a check on its spread in the next few days night curfew has been imposed in cities he saidKeep scrolling to read more newsCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates MidDay is now on Telegram Click here to join our channel middayinfomedialtd and stay updated with the latest newsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever