Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope has said that the final decision on lockdown in Maharashtra will be taken after April 14. Speaking to the media after a meeting of the COVID task force with chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday, Tope said the situation in Maharashtra is such that the lockdown was required to break the COVID-19 virus chain.
“Duration of the lockdown and how to handle its economic fallout was discussed during today’s meeting. The task force is of the view that the prevailing coronavirus situation in the state is such that a lockdown is required,” the minister said. He said the state was also planning to set up an oxygen plant considering the deteriorating situation.
Maharashtra CM also said that the task force discussed all major issues around the COVID-19 situation in Maharashtra. “In a meeting with the State Task Force, the chief minister discussed the availability of oxygen & beds, use of Remdesivir, treatment protocols, increase in capacity of facilities, imposition of restrictions & fines for violating Covid protocols,” a tweet from the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) said.
Uddhav Thackeray will also hold consultations with finance and other state departments on Monday. He said last week that lockdown could be imposed in the state if the cases continue to rise at a rapid pace. Maharashtra already has weekend lockdown, night curfew, and other prohibitory curbs in place until April 30.
The state recorded the highest single-day rise with 63,294 new coronavirus cases on Sunday. A total of 349 patients died due to the infection, which has taken the overall tally to 57,987. A total of 34,008 patients were discharged during the day. With this, the state’s recovery count increased to 27,82,161. Overall, the western state has a total of 34,07,245 COVID-19 cases as of April 12, of which 5,65,587 are active ones.
According to Maharashtra’s health department, 31,75,585 people are in-home quarantine and 25,694 in institutional quarantine. Maharashtra’s capital Mumbai has added 9,989 new cases of coronavirus in the past 24 hours. Mumbai’s active cases have climbed to 92,464, while the recoveries have jumped to 4,14,641.
