Covid-19: Maharashtra is one of the worst-affected states in India.
Maharashtra Mumbai Coronavirus News Live Updates: Maharashtra, which has the maximum number of coronavirus cases in the country, has extended the lockdown till July 31. According to the latest guidelines issued on Monday, shopping, outdoor exercise and movement for all other non-essential activities have to be limited to neighbourhood areas. No such curbs were announced when such activities were first permitted from June 5 as part of the ‘Mission Begin Again’ initiative.
Non-essential markets, market areas and shops can stay open only until 5 pm in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) and other hotspots. Malls and market complexes will remain shut. Since June 5, when the first phase of the Unlock began, a spike of 92,090 infections has been reported across the state, with Mumbai’s satellite cities and a few other tier-2 cities accounting for bulk of the increased case load.
“Maharashtra is threatened with the spread of Covid-19 virus and therefore to take certain emergency measures to prevent and contain the spread of the virus, it is expedient to extend the lockdown in the entire state till July 31, 2020,” said the notification, signed by Chief Secretary Ajoy Mehta, for the revised guidelines issued on Monday. Maharashtra recorded 5,257 Covid-19 cases on Monday, taking its tally to 1,69,883.
Sanitisation work at Turbhe Naka slum area in Navi Mumbai (Express photo by Narendra Vaskar)
Lockdown will be implemented in a stricter manner in Nashik, where "curfew-like situation" will prevail between 7 pm and 5 am to contain the spread of COVID-19, Maharashtra Minister Chhagan Bhujbal said on Tuesday. The Uddhav Thackeray-led government on Monday had extended the lockdown till July 31 without providing any further relaxations, as COVID cases continued to mount in the state.
As many as 361 inmates have so far tested positive across 11 prisons of Maharashtra, of which 106 are active as per data updated till Monday night. As many as 94 prison staff have also tested positive. Four deaths have also been reported.
Highest number inmates have been found in Mumbai Central Jail till now where 181 have till now tested positive of which 30 are active cases. The latest addition to COVID cases in prison was in Akola District Prison where a total of 68 inmates tested positive over the last one week. All 68 are currently under treatment.
The COVID-19 situation in Maharashtra's Aurangabad city will be reviewed in the next 10 days and if the condition worsens, the administration will consider imposing a curfew, an official said on Tuesday.
"The administration will not immediately impose a curfew in Aurangabad city. We will review the situation for the next 10 days and if things worsen, we may consider imposing a full or partial curfew," the collector said.
Considering the rise in COVID-19 cases, the collector of Maharashtra's Palghar district has announced a complete lockdown in Jawhar town till July 8, news agency PTI reported on Tuesday.
As per a release from the town's civic body, collector Kailas Shinde has imposed section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPc) prohibiting assembly of five or more people till July 8. Essentials will be made available between 8 am and 11 am, while banks and medical shops will have to adopt a token system, the release stated.
There was confusion and chaos on Mumbai’s arterial roads on Monday, as the police deployed 137 nakabandi points across the city to implement its new rule allowing only office-goers and those facing medical emergency to travel beyond a 2-km radius from their homes in their vehicles. By late evening, however, the “2-km barrier” rule had made way to “neighbourhood area limits”.
A senior police officer said that hardly any offences were made out against those violating the 2-km rule “as it would be difficult to trace the distance in each case”. The officer added that the focus was more on those violating lockdown restrictions in place, like people riding pillion on bikes or four-wheelers carrying more than three persons.
A 139 per cent increase in Covid-19 cases since lockdown rules were eased in the state has led to the authorities planning to impose several restrictions on Thane city for a 10-day period from July 2. The nature of the restrictions, which would be effective in areas that come under the Thane Municipal Corporation, will be clarified by civic body on Tuesday.
On June 3, when lockdown rules were eased in the state, TMC had reported 4,019 cases and 84 deaths. Since then, the number of patients has increased by 139 per cent to 9,644 while fatalities have increased by 275 per cent to 315.
The Thane city police tweeted on Monday, “A complete lockdown will be announced in Thane for the next 10 days from July 2. A notification in this regard will be issued soon.” However, TMC Deputy Commissioner Sandeep Malvi clarified later that a decision on what all will be allowed to stay open will be taken on Tuesday in light of the government extending the statewide lockdown till July 31 on Monday.
Maharashtra Tourism Minister Aaditya Thackeray has said the Civil Aviation Ministry should coordinate with state governments on the repatriation flights under the Vande Bharat Missionfor effectively reaching out to Indians stranded around the world. In a letter, dated June 29, to Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, Thackeray said most evacuees are in touch with their respective state governments.
Thackeray said in his earlier communication to the Ministry of External Affairs and the managing director of Air India, he had requested flights for the Middle East, Australia, Russia along with other routes. "Although some flights were organised, we need many more for the same," the minister said in his letter.
A Thane couple succumbed to Covid-19 within four days of each other. Shabana Banu (43) died on June 26, four days after her husband Usman Badshah Shaikh’s death in Kalsekar hospital in Kausa. Their family claims when they refused to take away her body suspecting medical negligence, the hospital offered them Rs 5,000.
The couple suffered from low oxygen saturation levels. The hospital has been facing issues with regular oxygen supply since several days. On Monday, it was forced to cut down bed strength from 126 to 70 to compensate for lack of oxygen. Most Covid-19 patients require high pressure oxygen support.
Systematic bed management in hospitals across Mumbai has led to the reduction in waiting period for Covid-19 patients to a few hours. Earlier, there had been instances where patients had complained of waiting for days to get access to a hospital bed to get themselves treated.
Latest data shows Mumbai has 3,195 beds free in public and private hospitals, of them 111 are ICU beds and 32 with ventilators. Since a week, more than 100 ICUs are vacant for Covid-19 patients, as opposed to April and May when ICUs witnessed a waiting period often resulting in death of patients.
The Centre on Monday issued guidelines for Unlock Phase II, beginning from July 1, with relaxations in night curfew, provision for more domestic flights and trains, and clearance for more than five people in a shop. However, schools, colleges and other educational institutions will remain closed till July 31, and Metro rail, multiplexes, gyms, swimming pools, bars and auditoriums will stay shut until further orders. (Read the full list of what is allowed, and what is not)
The movement of people after the unlockdown and increased testing by the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) have led to more Covid-19 positive cases, which in turn has reduced the doubling rate of patients in the city to 18 days from 24 days.
The PMC has been carrying out Covid-19 test for all patients with suspected symptoms and their close contacts. The various measures taken by the civic administration had helped increase the doubling rate to 24 days on June 18. However, after 10 days, it dropped to 18 days on June 28. The percentage of confirmed cases to samples tested has also increased to 14.93 per cent with total testing so far of over 1.08 lakh and daily testing capacity increased to around 3,200 samples.
In order to avoid crowding of people, the Mumbai Police has urged people not to venture far from their homes. In a directive issued on Sunday, the cops said theu will seize all privately-owned vehicles that are found to have travelled beyond a 2-km radius from the houses of the owners for purposes other than going to office or availing medical services during emergencies. However, those travelling in private vehicles but are involved in essential services have been exempted from the rule.
As the country moves into the second phase of the Unlock, and the standoff with China in eastern Ladakh continues, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the nation at 4 pm on Tuesday. His address will come two days after his monthly Mann ki Baat radio programme, during which he had reiterated the country’s commitment to safeguard its sovereignty and territorial integrity, and had asked citizens to not be negligent as the economy reopened.
Welcome to the Indian Express live blog on coronavirus spread in Maharashtra. With nearly 1.7 lakh cases, the state has the maximum number of infections in the country followed by Delhi and Tamil Nadu. Follow this space to track the latest developments