Hours after the Maharashtra minister announced a five-level unlock plan on Thursday, the Uddhav Thackeray-led government took a U-turn clarifying that new rules to phase out Covid restrictions imposed due to the second wave of the pandemic since mid-April are still under consideration.
In an official statement, Maharashtra CMO said that relaxation of restrictions as per the situation in different areas is only under consideration and no decision has been taken yet.
The government statement said the state has not completely stopped the corona infection. Infection is still on the rise in some places in rural areas. Considering the deadly and changing form of the coronavirus, it is important to decide whether or not to relax the restrictions. State restrictions have not been lifted, it said.
Last evening, Maharashtra Relief and Rehabilitation minister Vijay Waddettiwar announced that curbs will be lifted in Maharashtra districts where the Covid positivity rate is 5 percent or less and the occupancy of oxygen beds in hospitals is less than 25 percent. Level 1, for example, would mean that the lockdown can be lifted completely. Level 5 is the Red Zone, meaning a complete lockdown, he explained.
Waddettiwar, who briefed the media after a meeting with Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, also said 18 districts had been listed for Level 1, including Thane.
However, issuing a clarification on his earlier statement, the minister for Disaster Management, said, in-principle approval was given to phased lifting of lockdown curbs on the basis of positivity rate and availability of oxygen beds, but no final decision was taken.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra has recorded as many as 15,229 new cases of Coronavirus infections 307 deaths and 25,617 recoveries in the last 24 hours. The overall recovery rate in the state is 94.73 per cent and there are 2,04,974 active cases at the moment.