Maharashtra stares at full lockdown option

CM Uddhav Thackeray says if Covid cases keep rising, the state would fall short of medical personnel.

Mumbai: With Maharashtra reporting 47,827 new Covid-19 cases, the highest since the pandemic began last year, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Friday warned that the decision of lockdown may have to be taken after two or three days after discussion with experts and political leaders.

In the speech addressed by the Chief Minister, he has warned that if the number of cases continued to rise, then the state would fall short of medical personnel. He said that restrictions have to be imposed to prevent crowding.

While giving the people a hint of lockdown, he said: “I am warning about a complete lockdown, but not announcing it. I will speak to experts and political leaders in the next two days. If there is no other option to a lockdown, we will have to accept it.”

In order to break the chain of infection, some measures are being planned to which the Chief Minister Thackeray said: “Some strict restrictions will have to be imposed in the coming days. In cities, we will need to avoid unnecessary crowding. In Mumbai, there is crowding during peak and non-peak hours in trains. There is crowding in restaurants and in other places as well.”

While on the one hand, the state government is talking about curbs to check the spread of the coronavirus, huge crowds at the Dadar market in Mumbai have raised concerns about the spread of Covid-19 in the area.

Maharashtra has been over 47,000 coronavirus cases, taking the tally of cases in the state to 27,13,875; the death toll has increased to 55,379 with 202 new fatalities. Mumbai recorded more than 8,000 Covid-19 cases, the highest single-day rise on Friday.