Maharashtra received least vaccine doses, many vaccination centers facing closure: Aslam Shaikh

Accusing the Centre of indulging in politics, Maharashtra Cabinet Minister Aslam Shaikh on Saturday said that the state received the least number of vaccines and a majority of vaccination centres were facing closure due to shortage of doses.

Speaking to reporters here today, Shaikh said, "Centre is doing politics. Earlier more vaccinations centres were opened and we were told to vaccinate more and more people but later they stopped giving us the vaccines. Maharashtra has received the least number of vaccine doses. Today, a majority of vaccination centres across the state have been shut due to shortage of vaccine."

He further stated that smaller states have been given more vaccines, but larger states like Maharashtra, where there are more positive cases, have received lesser doses.

"The way in which politics is happening is not good. The people of Maharashtra are a witness to this that the Centre is giving vaccines to other countries but Maharashtra is receiving it in insufficient amount," added the Maharashtra Minister.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has called a meeting via video conferencing, of all political party leaders today to review the current COVID-19 situation in the state.

The state entered weekend lockdown from Friday starting 8 pm and shall be in force till Monday 7 am.

The Maharashtra Minister took stock of the situation in Mumbai during the weekend lockdown.

"Today an IPL Match is also scheduled here. So I came to see that no crowd gathers at Wankhede Stadium," said Shaikh.

"We'll review the situation in fruit and vegetable markets, if violations are found, we'll take action," he added.

Indian Premier League (IPL) match between the Chennai Super Kings and Delhi Capitals is scheduled to be played at the Wankhede Stadium from 7:30 pm today.

Responding to a question on the agenda of today's meeting called by the Maharashtra Chief Minister, Shaikh said, "It's not that only lockdown will be discussed. Many other issues like vaccination, and the guidelines people are following or not and what options we have to tackle the increasing cases of COVID-19 in the state."

According to the Union Health Ministry, Maharashtra reported the highest daily new cases at 56,286 on Friday.

India's COVID-19 tally hit a record daily high since the outbreak of the pandemic with over 1.45 lakh new infections being reported in a span of 24 hours, taking the cumulative count to 1,32,05,926, according to the Union Health Ministry.

The single-day rise in coronavirus cases breached the one lakh-mark for the fourth consecutive day.

According to the ministry, the country recorded 1,45,384 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours.

With 794 new COVID-related deaths in the last 24 hours, the toll in the country has mounted to 1,68,436. Currently, there are 10,46,631 active cases in the country.

As many as 77,567 people were discharged or recovered on Friday, taking the total number of recoveries to 1,19,90,859.

( With inputs from ANI )