Maharashtra: 1,202 COVID-19 patients discharged today; state to fill 17,000 health department vacancies

Maharashtra on Tuesday discharged a record number of 1,202 patients from hospitals after they were cured of COVID-19 disease, said State Health Minister Rajesh Tope.

He said that Maharashtra has a recovery rate of 25 per cent and the death rate in the state has also come down to 3.2 per cent.

"Today a record number of 1,202 patients in the state were discharged from hospitals after recovering from COVID-19. Maharashtra is having over 25 per cent recovery rate of COVID patients now," Tope said in a press conference.

Maharashtra is conducting around 15,000 COVID-19 tests on a daily basis in 67 testing labs.

"We will soon fill around 17000 vacancies for specialist doctors, nurses and other medical staff under health department," the Minister said.

The state is planning to take control of 80 per cent beds of all private hospitals in the state to treat COVID-19 patients on lesser expenses, he said. "Some scarcity of beds for COVID-19 patients was felt but now we are prepared. We have 15,000 beds for different categories of COVID patients now and 2,000 beds for ICU after we made arrangements in National Sports Club of India's (NSCI) dome in Worli, Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) ground, and other places," he said.

( With inputs from ANI )