Devendra Fadnavis demands 'frontline worker' status for journalists in Maharashtra

On Wednesday, BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis urged the Maharashtra government to designate all journalists working in print and electronic media as 'frontline workers' forthwith. In a letter addressed to Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray, Fadnavis pointed out that 12 states had already taken the aforesaid decision. Maintaining that several journalists have passed away during the first and second wave of COVID-19, he explained that the 'frontline worker' status will make them eligible for priority vaccination. Moreover, he stressed that most journalists do not have the luxury of working from home even during the lockdown. A total of 1,52,26,216 persons have been inoculated in India, 37,38,375 of them have received the second dose of the vaccine too. 

The letter noted, "In this Corona period, journalists have been going to hospitals, crematoriums and putting forth the plight of the common persons by talking to them. Journalists and channels have played a big role in spreading awareness about measures to contain the spread of COVID-19. In pursuit of their work, a large number of journalists have been infected. It is incomprehensible that the government is silent on such an important issue."

COVID-19 situation in Maharashtra

On Tuesday, May 11, Maharashtra recorded 40,956 novel coronavirus cases taking the State's COVID-19 tally to over 51 lakh. At present, there are 5,58,996 active cases in the State. With 71,996 COVID-19 patients discharged in the day, the number of recovered soared to 45,41,391. In a heartening development, Mumbai too recorded only 1717 new cases. 793 deaths were reported on Tuesday.

So far, 2,98,48,791 samples have been tested for the novel coronavirus in labs operational across the state. While 35,91,783 persons are under home quarantine, 29,955 others have been admitted to institutional quarantine centres. The COVID-19 positivity rate, recovery rate, and fatality rate in Maharashtra stand at 17.35 per cent, 87.67 per cent and 1.49 per cent respectively.

Vaccination policy in India

In a huge announcement on April 19, the Centre relaxed the age bar for vaccination from May 1 onwards and mentioned that vaccine manufacturers can supply 50 per cent of its doses to state governments and in the open market. The private hospitals shall have to procure their supplies of the COVID-19 vaccines exclusively from this quota. At the same time, vaccination shall continue at Government of India vaccination centres for healthcare and frontline workers and those above 45 years. Additionally, the Centre stated that it will allocate vaccine doses to the states from the remaining 50% quota based on factors such as the number of active cases, speed of administration and vaccine wastage.