Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar Saturday slammed Marathi news channels for their “fake reports” on the state government’s plan to do away with mask compulsion in public places. He asserted that the government has no plans to scrap the norm regarding the mandatory use of masks. “TV channels have been reporting that the government is planning to do away with the norm for mandatory use of masks. The reports said the issue was discussed during the cabinet meeting. The government has no such plan and the issue was not discussed during the cabinet meeting. Such news items are a blatant lie,” Pawar said after the district review committee meeting. He urged, “I request the TV channels to report the correct news. We haven’t even discussed the issue regarding doing away with masks. Neither do we have any such plan. I urge the TV channels not to create misunderstanding among the people,” he said. Meanwhile, on the Covid situation, Pawar said, in the last two days, the positive cases have dipped in Pune district. “In the second wave in April 2021, we had over a lakh positive cases. Today, we have around 90,000. In the second wave, we had 74 per cent cases in home isolation and during the ongoing third wave, we have 96 per cent patients in home isolation,” he said. Similarly, Pawar said during the second wave, Pune had 8 per cent patients on oxygen. “But in the current wave, only 0.67 per cent of patients are on oxygen support,” he said. Likewise, he said only a few patients are in the ICU. “In the second wave, 3.5 per cent of patients were in the ICU. Now, only 0.14 per cent are in the ICU. In the second wave, 1.2 per cent patients were on ventilators and now only 0.25 per cent patients are on ventilation,” he said. Pawar said even the death rate is far lower this time at 0.06 per cent compared to the 0.7 per cent in the second wave. The demand for oxygen, he said, is also on the lower side this time. “In the second wave, we needed 340 metric tonne of oxygen daily. But now we need 90 metric tonne oxygen. When there was no Covid, hospitals in Pune needed 85 metric tonne oxygen daily. Now, for Covid patients, only 5 per cent more oxygen is needed,” he said. On the vaccination front, Pawar said in the second wave by April 2021, Pune had over 16 lakh vaccinated people. “Now we have over 1.16 crore vaccinated citizens,” he said.
