Maharashtra announces fresh lockdown as Covid cases increase

With the Covid pandemic again spreading in Maharashtra, the local administration in several districts of the Vidarbha region have swung into action on Thursday and have imposed Covid restrictions such as restricting movement at night and preventing more than five people from coming together.

In Amravati, the district administration has announced a lockdown from Saturday to Monday, but essential services will remain unaffected. The total number of Covid patients in the district has jumped to 4,020.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and his Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar held a closed-door meeting to discuss the emerging situation. More restrictions in the affected districts can be expected soon. Talking to media persons here, Pawar said the Chief Minister had chaired the meeting for taking decisions that were needed for tackling the situation.

The Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM), Commissioner, IS Chahal in communication to media persons said that residential buildings in Mumbai city with more than five patients would be sealed by MCGM. People who are under home quarantine would be stamped on their hands. For acting against passengers on the local trains who do not wear masks, 300 marshals would be appointed. The number of marshals for taking action those who do not wear masks in public places would be doubled. The daily target is to act against 25,000 violators. Instructions have also been given to raid marriage halls, clubs and restaurants for checking on the Covid rule compliance. Passengers from Brazil arriving at Mumbai airport will have to compulsorily undergo institutional quarantine for seven days.

Chahal added that the Covid pandemic situation in Mumbai is under control when compared with June and July 2020. Still, the number of patients is rising therefore the citizens have to comply with the Covid rules.

On Thursday evening a media statement issued by the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme of the State Public Health Department said that 5,427 new Covid positive cases were found (yesterday the figure was 4,787) with a total number of active Covid cases at 40,858 in the state.

The state also saw 2,543 Covid patients being discharged taking the total number of discharged patients to 19.87 lakh after full recovery. The recovery rate in the state is 95.5 per cent. 38 Covid deaths were also reported with the case fatality rate in the state at 2.48 per cent. Currently, 2,16,908 people are in-home quarantine and 1,743 people are in institutional quarantine, the statement said.

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