Coronavirus News LIVE Updates: Maharashtra will begin Covid-19 vaccination drive for people aged between 30-44 years from Saturday, state Health Minister Rajesh Tope said. The required changes will be made in the CoWin app according to the new drive. Till now, people from this age bracket could only get vaccinated at the private centres. The Central government had allowed prioritising of vaccines amid a limited supply. The state had provided free vaccines for 18-44 age group from May 1 to May 12, before it stopped the drive to prioritise those due for the second dose.

Announcing the suspension of the Covid-19 inoculation drive for the 18-44 age group, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had on May 23 said the supply of vaccines was not smooth. Thackeray, during a meeting with paediatric doctors and COVID task force team through video conference, had said, “COVID inoculation drive for 18-44 age group has been suspended as the supply of vaccines is not smooth. I am hopeful that from June production capacity of vaccines will increase, then, we can run 24-hour vaccination drive in the state.”

Maharashtra on Friday recorded 9,798 new Covid-19 cases, taking its case tally to 59,54,508, while 198 fatalities raised the death toll to 1,16,674, the health department said. Of 198 deaths, 133 occurred in the last 48 hours while 65 took place in the last week. Another 450 deaths which had taken place earlier were added after reconciliation of records. The death toll, overall, went up by 648.

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