<span style="color: #222222;">In the wake of rising COVID-19 cases, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray today directed to increase the pace of COVID vaccination in the state. In a meeting chaired by the Chief Minister, it was also stressed on taking strict steps with more vigilance to contain the spread of Coronavirus.</span> <br />''<br />''<span style="color: #222222;">During the meeting, Dr. Pradeep Vyas, Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Health also expressed the possibility of an increase in the number of active COVID patients in mid-January. He said that vaccination needs to be expedited. <br />''<br />''Dr. Vyas also highlighted that there were 6,200 active patients till December 8 and today there are 10 thousand active patients in the state. Overall, the number of active patients has increased by 50 per cent in the last 20 days and the number of patients has tripled in the last six days. He said, the positivity rate in the state was 1.06 per cent. <br />''<br />''A few days ago, the state was administering eight lakh doses a day, but now only five lakh doses are being administered daily. Taking a note of this, the CM directed all the Guardian Ministers to follow up and see to it that vaccination is carried out expeditiously in their respective districts. Mr. Thackeray also directed that a meeting of the Task Force should be held in the next one or two days.</span><br />