Lockdown won’t be lifted in Maha after June 30: Uddhav
MUMBAI: Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray said on Sunday the ongoing lockdown will not be lifted after its fifth phase ends on June 30 but indicated there will be more relaxations under the state government’s Mission Begin Again.
Thackeray, who completed seven months in his office on Sunday, said the risk of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) and the battle against the pandemic are not over yet, but the government is relaxing the curbs in a phased manner. He said that the continuation of the lockdown curbs and their stricter implementations depends on citizens.
“I have been getting requests from a few civic authorities for the permission for imposing stricter lockdown owing to the rising numbers. There are cases of violations of the curbs in some cities like Mumbai, Pune and even in rural areas,” Thackeray said while addressing the state through Facebook.
“I am sure the citizens will continue to abide by the stricter norms of the lockdown but in case of violations of the curbs, we will have no options but to go for the stricter imposition of the lockdown again in the areas with a rise in the cases,” he added.
Maharashtra is the worst-hit state by the coronavirus pandemic with a tally of to 159,133 out of which more than 74,000 cases are in Mumbai. Ten major cities, including Mumbai, continue to be classified as red zones with strict restrictions including no public transport. More than 7,200 people, including 4,284 in Mumbai, have succumbed to the respiratory disease in the state so far.
Thackeray said that there will be a spike in infections in the next few weeks. “As we have been opening up the activities to ensure the revival of the economy, we have been witnessing the rise in the cases. Even in the near future, there will be a rise in the cases as we open up more activities,” he said. “But the state government is ready to take on the surge. We have increased the testing facilities. Instead of waiting for the virus to attack us, we have been chasing it. After it has proven to be successful in Mumbai, the ‘chase the virus’ drive is being implemented elsewhere in the state. It will help us in containing the spread,” he added.
Thackeray said the state government is at par with the health infrastructure at the national and international level. He said his government has received permission from the Centre for the use of remdesivir and favipiravin, the antiviral drugs, and they will be made available to people free of cost once the adequate stock has been procured. “We are inaugurating plasma therapy testing centres in Maharashtra on Monday and it will, perhaps, help us in becoming the top state to provide the facility with the highest number of tests for the therapy,” he said.
“We appeal to people who recovered from the infection to come forward for the test of therapy so that other patients can be benefited from them,” he said.