Maharashtra: CM Uddhav Thackeray hints on a strict lockdown for eight days

Mumbai: Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday hinted strict lockdown for next eight days in Maharashtra. This comes after Maharashtra is witnessing a sharp rise in the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday called an all-party meeting via to take the stock of the current COVID-19 situation in the state. The meeting was attended by prominent leaders of the three parties involved in the MVA government, leaders of BJP, leaders of MNS, SP and other senior officers from the health department.

Chief Minister Thackeray in all party leaders meet conveyed that there is no option but to impose complete lockdown to break the chain of the virus. He stated that if decision is not taken early, then situation will be worse in coming days in the state. The Chief Minister also said that was told that new cases of COVID-19 arr exploding. Also, Maharashtra is facing shortage of oxygen and anti viral-drug Remdesivir.

Former Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis present in the meeting said, "If you enforce lockdown, people will turn angry as businesses will be closed. We should think about it also." BJP state President Chandrakant Patil also said, "BJP is not against lockdown but there should be a concrete model before going ahead. What about the workers, traders, there should be solution on this."

Along with CM Thackeray, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, Health Minister Rajesh Tope, Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis, BJP leaders Chandrakant Patil, Pravin Darekar, Congress Ministers Ashok Chavan, Balasaheb Thorat were present virtually.

The development comes a day after Maharashtra reported 58,993 new cases.

According to the data released by health ministry, the state reported 45,391 recoveries and 301 deaths on Friday. With these new numbers, the total cases in the state shot up to 32,88,540, active cases at 5,34,603, total recoveries at 26,95,148 and death toll at 57,329.

Notably, the Maharashtra government has enforces a strict weekend lockdown from Friday night till 7 am on Monday. Home delivery of food and essential supplies and movement of students taking various exams are permitted.