Maharashtra might have to stop its coronavirus immunisation drive after a few days because of a shortage of vaccine doses, according to state Health Minister Rajesh Tope. He said Maharashtra needs a stable supply of 40 lakh doses of Covid vaccines each week.

“Currently, we have 14 lakh vaccine doses which will get over in 3 days. We’ve asked for 40 lakh more vaccine doses per week,” Tope said while speaking to reporters.

“Many districts will run out of the stock today or tomorrow. The Centre is aware of the situation and (we) have also communicated in writing,” he said, adding, “I’m not saying that the Center is not giving us vaccines but the speed of delivery of vaccines is slow.”

Nearly 82 lakh people have been vaccinated so far in Maharashtra since the roll-out of the inoculation drive.

An official statement on Tuesday said Maharashtra had received 1.06 crore doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, out of which 88 lakh doses have been used while the wastage stood at three per cent.

Maharashtra on April 6 crossed the 50K mark, reporting 55,469 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, the state health department stated. This is the second-highest spike since the outbreak of the pandemic.

The total number of cases in the state now stands at 31, 13,354. As of April 6, there are 4,72,283 active cases in the state, and the death toll stands at 56,330.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, taking into consideration the surging cases, has put the state under weekend lockdowns and night curfews. He has also implemented other strict measures to curb the spread of the virus.