As coronavirus COVID-19 cases are slowly declining in Maharashtra, state Health Minister Rajesh Tope has hinted that Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray-led government in Maharashtra may etend the COVID-19 lockdown till May 31.
It is to be noted that Maharashtra government had imposed lockdown-like restrictions in the state from April 22 to May 1 to curb the spread of coronavirus and break the chain of transmission. The lockdown was later extended till May 15 owing to the huge spike in COVID cases and the rising death toll in the state.
It is now expected that the existing curbs under the ‘Break The Chain’ would remain in place till May 31 as the daily COVID-19 cases are still between 50,000 and 60,000 in the state.
“If the strict restrictions will be lifted then the situation may get out of hand once again. The government is geared up to tackle the third wave and is in the midst of ramping up the bed capacity, availability of Remdesivir and other medical facilities and also to achieve self-sufficiency in oxygen through Mission Oxygen. The government is also increasing the pace of vaccination,” Fress Press Journal quoted Tope as saying.
Tope, however, added that the situation will be reviewed by the government and a final call on lockdown extension will be taken after that. “The state government is stressing on tracking, tracing and treating COVID-19 patients to curb the outbreak,” Tope added.
Meanwhile, the total number of coronavirus cases in Maharashtra jumped to 51,01,737 and the cumulative death toll in the state climbed to 75,849. In Maharashtra, the recovery rate is now at 86.4 per cent while the case fatality rate is 1.49 per cent. The state has 6,15,783 active cases. Mumbai reported 2,395 cases and 68 deaths in the last 24 hours.
