Punjab Junction Newspaper | 05 January 2022
Despite registering a sharp spike in its Covid-19 caseload, the Maharashtra government has no plans of imposing a lockdown in the state, putting speculations about the same to rest for now.
A meeting on the prevailing Covid-19 situation in the state was called by deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar on Wednesday and no decision regarding the imposition of lockdown at the moment was taken.
Among those who attended the meeting include health minister Rajesh Tope and senior government officers in Mumbai, reported news agency ANI.
On Tuesday, Mumbai mayor Kishori Pednekar hinted at the lockdown and said the stringent action will be taken in the city if the daily Covid-19 cases cross the 20,000-mark. She also appealed to people to wear triple-layer masks while traveling by public buses and local trains, along with following all Covid-19-appropriate behaviour.
Earlier, state minister Vijay Wadettiwar remarked that the stage of imposing a fresh lockdown in the state was approaching, adding the final call will be taken by chief minister Uddhav Thackeray.
Following this, Rajesh Tope clarified that the imposition of lockdown in the state was not being discussed at present.
“The government will take decisions about restrictions by taking into consideration the case positivity rate, hospital bed occupancy and oxygen consumption,” Tope told reporters.
He added that if the daily (medical) oxygen requirement crosses 700 metric tons, the state will “automatically” go into lockdown.
Maharashtra logged 18,466 fresh coronavirus cases on Tuesday, a spike of 6,303 cases as compared to the previous day’s tally, and 20 fatalities, according to the state health department. This took the state’s Covid-19 tally to 67,30,494 and the death toll to 1,41,573.
The state also remains the highest contributor of the infections of the highly transmissible Omicron variant with 653 cases reported so far.
