Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray (File) Ruling out a complete lockdown amid the extreme Covid situation in Maharashtra, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray Tuesday said the state government will impose Section 144 for 15 days from 8 pm Wednesday. Emergency services will remain open between 7 am and 8 pm daily, he said.
In a video address, Thackeray said the state government is continuously upgrading the healthcare infrastructure but it is under pressure. “There is a shortage of medical oxygen, beds and the demand for Remdesivir has also increased,” he said.
Public transport such as buses and trains would remain operational for emergency services, while petrol pumps, financial institutions associated with SEBI and construction work would also continue. Hotel and restaurants would remain closed and only take-away/home deliveries would be allowed, he said.
The state, which is grappling with a second Covid-19 wave, already has a weekend lockdown in place besides daily night curfews.
Last week, CM Thackeray had addressed an all-party meeting where he hinted at the imposition of an extended lockdown in the state to curb the surge in cases.
On Sunday, he held a meeting with members of the state Covid-19 task force and said a standard operating procedure (SoP) will be prepared after holding consultations. State Health Minister Rajesh Tope had also suggested that the state needs a 2-3 week lockdown with tough restrictions to ramp up its health infrastructure.
Maharashtra, which has the maximum number of active Covid-19 cases (5,93,042), has complained of vaccine shortage and has repeatedly requested the Centre to send a bigger batch of vaccines to the state.
Maharashtra had reported 63,294 infections on Sunday, its highest daily spike since the onset of the pandemic. However, the cases dropped significantly to 51,751 on Monday, apparently due to a lesser number of tests conducted over the weekend, taking the tally to 34,58,996. The overall death toll in the state is 58,245 as of Monday, as per the state health department.
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