Mumbai: With rapidly increasing Coronavirus cases in the Maharashtra and across the country, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday announced extension of lockdown in the state till April 30. The decision to extend the lockdown comes soon after Prime Minister Narendra Modi held video conferencing with Chief Minister of all states and Union Territories (UTs) to chalk out further course of action to combat Covid-19 outbreak in the country.

Making the announcement, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said that the lockdown can be relaxed in certain areas while on others it will become stricter. He also said that the decision of lifting the lockdown completely after April 30 will be taken depending upon the prevailing situation.


With around 90 more COVID-19 positive cases in Maharashtra, the state tally of infected people on Saturday climbed over 1,500 mark, recording the highest number of coronavirus cases in India.

While making the announcement, Thackeray also said that the details of the protocols to be followed during the extended lockdown would be announced later.

If the Chief Ministers' conference on Saturday, a third in less than two weeks, convened by PM Modi is an indication, there has been a growing unanimity that the ongoing shutdown should continue "at least for two more weeks".

The CMs also seemed to agree on opening up the rural economy, especially grain markets. The suggestions included continuing the lockdown of airports, railway stations and metro trains.


"During the video-conferencing with state CMs today, most states requested Prime Minister Modi to extend the lockdown for two more weeks. The Central Government is considering this request," a government spokesperson said.

Modi was accompanied by some senior officials, including from the Union health ministry, during the meeting and the chief ministers who participated in it also included Mamata Banerjee (West Bengal), Uddhav Thackeray (Maharashtra), Yogi Adityanath (Uttar Pradesh), Manohar Lal (Haryana), K Chandrashekhar Rao (Telangana) and Nitish kumar (Bihar).

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Meanwhile in Maharashtra, the state administration has imposed a total ban on all religious gatherings till further orders. CM Thackeray and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar had made the announcement in two separate statements as Covid-19 cases continued to spiral in the state.

"coronavirus strikes at people irrespective of caste, community, religion or region and hence no further gatherings of any nature shall be allowed in the state to avoid mingling of people in large numbers," Thackeray had said.

The CM also warned of stringent action against those who spread communally divisive messages on the social media, upload fake videos, or those attacking the medical community and police who are serving the people in the 'war against virus'.