With the rapid rise in coronavirus cases in Maharashtra, the state government on Saturday decided to extend the ongoing lockdown till April 30.
Maharashtra is the third state to extended the lockdown after Odisha and Punjab while others may soon follow suit.
The 21-days nationwide lockdown, announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last month, is due to end on April 14. Most states are in the favour extending the lockdown and the same was conveyed to the Prime Minister in a video conference by chief ministers on Saturday.
Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said he told Modi in the meeting that Maharashtra will continue to be under lockdown after April 14.
Announcing the decision, Thackeray said that the lockdown can be relaxed in certain areas while on others it will become stricter.
"Maharashtra will continue to be locked down till 30th April. The state will show the way to the country even in these tough times," the chief minister said.
"On Monday, we will complete 5 weeks since the first case of Coronavirus was reported in the state. We can say that till now we have been successful in preventing the multiplication of the number of cases up to some extent," Thackeray added.
He also said that the decision on lifting the curbs completely after April 30 will be taken depending upon the prevailing situation.
Maharashtra is the most affected state in the country and the only to have more than 1,000 COVID-19 cases.
As on Saturday, there are 1574 confirmed coronavirus positive cases with a death toll of 110. 188 people have been discharged after the treatment.
