Published On : Tue, May 11th, 2021

Lockdown in Maharashtra Likely to be Extended Till May 31,

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Mumbai: Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope indicated that the COVID-19 lockdown might be extended beyond May 15. To break the chain of coronavirus transmission, the Uddhav Thackeray-led government had imposed lockdown-like restrictions in the state from April 22 to May 1. Later, it was extended till May 15 owing to the huge spike in a number of COVID cases and the rising death toll in the state. The government has banned inter-city as well as inter-district travel during the lockdown period and had announced the closure of non-essential services in the state

However, the existing curbs under the ‘Break The Chain’ order are expected to continue till May 31 as the daily COVID 19 cases are still hovering between 50,000 and 60,000.

“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

He, however, said that the government will review the situation and decide on whether to extend these lockdown-like measures or not. “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 the state climbed to 51,01,737 and the toll reached 75,849. The recovery rate in Maharashtra now stands 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 houurs, taking the tally of infections to 6,75,630 and the toll to 13,781.