Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday directed officials to prepare a plan for the implementation of a lockdown if people fail to adhere to Covid-appropriate behaviour, PTI reported.
The state is battling a huge increase in coronavirus cases. Mumbai registered 6,923 new cases on Sunday – its highest ever one-day rise. The city’s overall count rose to 3,98,674. Eight more deaths pushed its toll to 11,649.
Thackeray held a meeting with officials on Sunday to review the situation in the state. At the meeting, members of the state task force warned the government that Maharashtra could report 40,000 cases in the next 24 hours.
The chief minister then asked officials to be ready with a detailed plan for a lockdown that would have minimum impact on the economy, the news agency reported. “There should not be any kind of confusion among people once a lockdown is announced,” Thackeray added.
Pradeep Vyas, principal secretary of Maharashtra’s health department, said at the meeting that the state could face a shortage of hospital beds, oxygen and ventilators if cases continue to rise. “There are 3.57 lakh isolation beds in the state, of which 1.07 lakh are already filled,” he said. “The remaining beds are getting filled at a higher speed.”
Thackeray instructed officials to ensure that medical services and foodgrains are available to the people amid the pandemic. “The industry should produce 80% of oxygen for medical reasons and remaining for other purposes,” he said, according to PTI.
On Saturday, the Maharashtra government imposed a ban on all social gatherings in the state due to a surge in coronavirus cases, The state recorded 35,726 new coronavirus cases and 166 deaths on Saturday. The toll rose to 54,073.
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