Even as Maharashtra continues reporting the highest number of new COVID-19 cases daily, the state government wants to know why other states have not witnessed such a situation, especially the states where assembly elections are going on. Textiles, Port, Fisheries, and Mumbai city Guardian Minister Aslam Shaikh has said that the state government has asked the COVID-19 task force to study why cases are increasing only in Maharashtra, and not in the states where election rallies with large number of people were organised.
“Many ministers are campaigning with mass gatherings there but there is no surge in COVID cases there,” minister Sheikh said.
At present Maharashtra constitutes almost half of the total active cases of COVID-19 in the country. The state is adding around 50,000 new cases everyday, causing a major concern. Total active cases in Maharashtra at the beginning of March was less than one lakh, but now it has crossed five lakh.
In contrast, as the Maharashtra minister observed, the surge is not so steep in the states which saw massive public rallies and roadshows during the election. Central minister including PM Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah have addressed several large rallies in West Bengal and Assam, but these states not witnessed such large-scale infections.
Total number of active cases in Assam is at around 1500, while the same in West Bengal is around 21,000. Among the election bound states, Kerala has highest active cases at around 40,000, followed by Tamil Nadu at around 38,000.
It may be noted that during the last few days, some opposition party leaders and left-liberal media had tried to link the surge in cases in Maharashtra with large election rallies by central ministers in Assam and West Bengal. But at last, a minister from Maharashtra has finally agreed that the state failed to manage the Coronavirus pandemic, while the states where elections were going on managed it much better.
However, the Congress leader is also in the forefront in spreading fake news about Coronavirus. On Saturday, the minister had alleged that Maharashtra has received the least number of vaccine doses, while BJP-ruled states are given more vaccines. But that is a blatant lie, as Maharashtra has given the highest number of doses of vaccines. Another Congress ruled state Rajasthan also received a large number of vaccines, which among the top three vaccine recipient states.
