Maharashtra COVID Scare: With 63K New Cases, Thackeray Govt Mulls 7-14 Days Lockdown; Final Call After April 14

Tope, who was interacting with the media after the virtual meeting held via video conferencing, said “the task force is of the view that the prevailing coronavirus situation in the state is such that a lockdown is required”, PTI reported.

CM Uddhav Thackrey

Mumbai: A decision regarding imposing a lockdown in Maharashtra in view of the surge in Covid-19 cases will be taken after April 14, said state’s Health Minister Rajesh Tope on Sunday, adding “duration of the lockdown and how to handle its economic fallout” was discussed during the meeting chaired by Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray with the task force members.

Tope, who was interacting with the media after the virtual meeting held via video conferencing, said “the task force is of the view that the prevailing coronavirus situation in the state is such that a lockdown is required”, PTI reported.

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The Chief Minister during the meeting discussed the availability of oxygen and beds, use of Remdesivir, treatment protocols, increase in capacity of facilities, imposition of restrictions and fines for violating Covid-19 protocols.

“CM Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray in a meeting with the State Task Force discussed the availability of oxygen & beds, use of Remdesivir, treatment protocols, increase in capacity of facilities, imposition of restrictions & fines for violating COVID protocols,” said a tweet from the Chief Minister’s Office.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">CM Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray in a meeting with the State Task Force discussed the availability of oxygen &amp; beds, use of Remdesivir, treatment protocols, increase in capacity of facilities, imposition of restrictions &amp; fines for violating COVID protocols.</p>&mdash; CMO Maharashtra (@CMOMaharashtra) <a href="https://twitter.com/CMOMaharashtra/status/1381245515682185217?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" rel='nofollow'>April 11, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

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Earlier on Saturday, Thackeray said eight days of strict lockdown is needed in the state in order to control the situation and added that a lockdown with minor relaxations would not help control the situation post upsurge of corona cases in Maharashtra.

Thackeray made this observation during an all-party meeting with Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis and his Cabinet colleagues.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra has reported 63,294 new Covid-19 cases, taking the tally to 34,07,245. The state reported 34,008 recoveries and 349 deaths in the last 24 hours.

There are 5, 65,587 active cases in Maharashtra, which is the worst affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. Around 27, 82,161 people have so far recovered while the death toll stands at 57,987.

Meanwhile, India’s daily new cases continue to rise. Over 1, 50,000 new cases were registered in the last 24 hours. Ten states including Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan have shown a rise in the daily new cases. 80.92 percent of the new cases are reported from these 10 states, according to the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry.