More Maharashtra cities under curbs to control COVID-19

A health worker wearing protective gear takes a swab sample of a resident for coronavirus test at Dharavi slum in Mumbai. Pic/AFP

Many more Maharashtra cities and districts came under partial to near-total restrictions on Friday as Covid-19 cases continued to zoom up.

The state on Friday recorded 56 deaths, taking its total toll to 52,723, while adding 15,817 new patients - a sharp jump of 1,500 since Thursday - to bring the total infections till date to 22,82,191.

In the country's worst-hit district, Pune, the administration has shut down all educational institutions till March 31, all hotels and restaurants will close by 10 pm, and home deliveries by 11 p.m., and other night-time restrictions shall be severely imposed.

Apart from this, only 50 persons will be permitted to gather at weddings, funerals, political, religious or other social events while public gardens and parks and clubs will be closed to break the virus chain, it was decided at a review meeting headed by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar.

Besides similar short-term, long-term, partial or near-total measures are being implemented in several districts like Dhule, Buldhana, Jalgaon, Parbhani, Jalna, in addition to the earlier list of districts.

"The government has decided that a weekend lockdown will be imposed from from 12 midnight till 6 a.m. on Monday in Parbhani district," Minority Affairs Minister Nawab Malik said.

In Nagpur, where a lockdown was announced for March 15-21 by Energy Minister and Guardian Minister Dr. Nitin Raut, the locals are unhappy and Mayor Dayashankar Tiwari claimed that the city administration was "not consulted" in the matter.

Though there are no immediate plans for such restrictions or lockdown in Mumbai, the state government will review the situation over the next couple of days before deciding on further curbs here.

BMC's Additional Municipal Commissioner Suresh Kakani said that through cases are rising in Mumbai - 1000-plus since the past four days, the situation is under control.

"Nearly 90 per cent of the cases are reported from buildings and highrises... We are taking appropriate measures. Lockdown is not on the agenda, but we must follow the three-pronged strategy of wearing masks, washing/sanitising hands and maintaining social distancing," he said.

Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday had indicated that there could be lockdown measures in "some places" across the state - and he has asked the District Collectors, Municipal Commissioners, Police Commissioners and Superintendents of Police - to take calls depending on the situation.

Later, the Centre on March 11 made the announcement that 8 out of 10 worst-hit Covid-19 districts in the country are in Maharashtra, adding to the state's concerns.

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