Maharashtra eyes suspension of train, flight operations to Delhi

A COVID-19 patient lies on a bed at Max Hospital in New Delhi on November 21. Pic/AFP

The Maharashtra government is toying with the idea of suspending train and flight operations to and from Delhi in view of the rising Coronavirus cases in the national capital, a senior official said on Saturday.

This is one of the steps being considered by the state government to curb the spread of the virus, he said. "Various measures are being discussed in order to curb the virus spread in the state, and suspension of train and flight operations to and from Delhi is one of them," Principal Secretary Sanjay
Kumar said.

"However, no decision has been taken so far on this," he added. Sources said that during a meeting held recently in Mumbai it was discussed that steps need to be taken to prevent the spread of infection from people entering Maharashtra from the states that have been witnessing a spike in the number of cases.

Maharashtra's COVID-19 tally on Friday went up to 17,68,695 with the addition of 5,640 cases during the day and the death toll reached 46,511. The national capital recorded 6,608 fresh positive cases on Friday, taking the infection tally to over 5.17 lakh, while 118 more fatalities during the same period pushed the death toll to 8,159.

The National Centre for Disease Control, in a report drafted recently, had warned that Delhi needs to be prepared for about 15,000 fresh cases of COVID-19 per day taking into account the upcoming winter season-related respiratory problems, large influx of patients from outside and festive gatherings.

Meanwhile, the Muzaffarnagar district administration has begun checking passenger buses origination from the national capital and headed to various places in the district or even passing through it.

During the ongoing checks of buses, three persons coming from Delhi tested positive in the last two days, an official said on Saturday. Only buses originating from Delhi are being checked as of now.

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