Maharashtra could go into a total lockdown for up to a fortnight to stem the rapidly rising Covid-19 cases. A final decision on this is expected to be taken on Sunday after the State government consults its task force on Covid.
At a meeting convened by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday evening, political parties were on the same page regarding the need for a lockdown, considering the gravity of the situation.
The State is facing multiple challenges: it now accounts for about 51 per cent of the total active cases in the country; there is short-supply of antiviral drug Remdesivir and Covid vaccines; and the hospital infrastructure to deal with the cases is stretched.
At the meeting, Thackeray indicated that the State was moving towards a total lockdown. The all-party meeting via video conference was held to review the pandemic situation in the State.
On Friday evening, the State Health Department reported 58,993 fresh cases, with the total number of active cases rising to 5,34,603. Pune district had the highest number of active cases (1,00,051), followed by Mumbai (88,053).
Jabs cross 100-m mark: With the total number of Covid vaccine doses administered in the country crossing 10 crore, the Union Health Ministry on Saturday said that India is the fastest nation to administer 100 million doses in 85 days, a record.
The US took 89 days to administer 10 crore doses, while China took 102 days to cross the same number, it said.
In terms of the number of daily doses administered globally, India continues to remain at the top with an average of 38,93,288 doses administered per day, the Ministry said.
India’s total cases now stand at 132,05,926 with total recoveries at 119,90,859; active cases are at 10,46,631; and the death toll has increased to 1,68,436 with 794 deaths reported in the last 24 hours.