Even as the cases have been declining somewhat in the State in the past few days, the Maharashtra government on Thursday decided to extend its ‘Break the Chain’ restrictions currently in force till June 1.
An order issued by Chief Secretary Sitaram Kunte under the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 and the Disaster Management Act, 2005 extended all previous curbs that had been imposed under the orders of April 13, 21 and 29 “till 7 a.m. on June 1.”
The order mandates that any person entering the State by any mode of transport will have to carry a negative RT-PCR test report which would have to be issued a maximum 48 hours before his entry into Maharashtra. “The restrictions on persons arriving from places of ‘sensitive origins’ as per orders dated April 18 and May 1 will be applicable to anyone arriving from any part of the country into the State,” states the directive.
It further states that in case of cargo carriers not more than two persons may be allowed to travel in the same. In the event of these carriers originating from outside the State, they would have to enter with a negative RT-PCR test
The directive has ordered local district administrations to keep a “special vigil over rural markets and agriculture produce market committees (APMCs) and ensure Covid-19 appropriate behaviour.”
The directive further empowers district administrations to shut down APMCs on after reviewing the situation case by case basis in the event of indisciplined behaviour by errant citizens and vendors or violations of pandemic norms on their part.
The cabinet meeting held on Wednesday, there was a general unanimity on the imperative to extend lockdown-like restrictions until cases and fatalities had drastically dropped in the State.
While a number of districts in north Maharashtra and the Marathwada region besides cities like Mumbai and Pune have been showing a declining trend, cases are on the rise in the sugar heartland of western Maharashtra which includes the districts of Satara, Sangli, Kolhapur and Solapur besides the rural parts of Pune district.
Maharashtra’s active case tally has come down to 5.46 lakh from its erstwhile figure of 6.95 lakh ten days back. However, the State continues to report an average 450-500 fatalities a day. Its total death toll is now nudging 80,000.