Maharashtra COVID-19 news: Total lockdown if cases continue to surge, warns CM Uddhav Thackeray

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, on Friday said that the COVID situation in the state will be analysed for two more  days and if there is no improvement, a total lockdown will be imposed.

 "I cannot rule out imposing a lockdown if the current COVID19 situation prevails. People have become complacent," Thackeray said in his address.

“The vaccine is an umbrella to protect you from the rain. But this is not rain. This is a storm... We want to keep more and more of these tests as RT-PCR. We don't want to compromise on quality and transparency. We haven't hidden any patient or case numbers," he said. "There could be a shortage of healthcare infrastructure if the COVID19 situation deteriorates," Thackeray said.

Taking a review of the rising numbers, Thackeray said that in the next few days, the state will have to do 2.5 lakh tests every day. 

The state recorded its highest tally of 47,827 new infections on Friday, up from the previous high of 43,183 new cases registered on Thursday, as the overall tally increased to 29,040,076 -- adding over 1,00,000 infections in just three days, after recording 28,129,80 cases on March 31.

Four days after the death toll crossed the 54,000-mark on March 28, the state added 481 fatalities on Friday, (comprising the day's toll of 202, plus 279 old, reconciled deaths), taking the overall death toll to 55,379, the worst in the country.

Over 2.20 million people are in quarantine, either at home or in institutions, as the state grapples to control the infection.

The state's recovery rate continued to drop further, from 85.02 per cent on Thursday to 84.62 per cent on Friday, while the death rate worsened from 1.92 per cent a day earlier to 1.91 per cent.

The number of active cases has jumped up from 366,533 to 389,832 now.

Mumbai, Pune, Nashik and Nagpur circles remained the major concern areas due to the galloping figures of deaths and new cases, followed by Latur, Aurangabad, Akola and Kolhapur circles.

(With IANS inputs)