Maharashtra to face complete lockdown? CM to take final decision soon

Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray said during an all-party meeting on Saturday that a decision over imposing a lockdown in the state struggling to contain the surge in the cases of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) will be taken tomorrow, people familiar with the developments said. Uddhav Thackeray will meet officials of the state task force on Covid-19 on Sunday and is expected to meet other stakeholders in the next couple of days, they added. However, not all members of the Shiv Sena-Congress-Nationalist Congress Party coalition that rules the state are in favour of a lockdown and neither is the opposition BJP, sources said. A decision on lockdown will be taken after CM meeting with taskforce tomorrow said Nawab Malik. 

"Lockdown of a few days is necessary and then relaxations can be given. The Chief Minister will hold a meeting with the state Covid task force on Sunday," Deputy Chief Minister Ashok Chavan told news agency ANI. Former Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis of the BJP said, "If you impose lockdown, people will be angry. Many businesses will be shut. Think about that." His party's state unit chief Chandrakant Patil said, "BJP is not against lockdown but there should be a proper plan before going ahead." Maharashtra on Friday reported nearly 59,000 new cases of the coronavirus, which pushed its overall tally to 32.88 lakh, while the death of 301 patients took its fatalities to 57,329, the state health department said. Breaking all records, India has recorded a massive surge of 145,384 Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours. With this, India's tally now stands at 13,205,926, according to MoHFW. Active cases are nearing the 1-million mark. India is now the 4th-worst hit country in terms of active cases. India also witnessed a grim record of fatalities due to covid-19 in a single day in 2021, which stood at 794. The death toll from the deadly infection stands at 168,467.