COVID-19: Strict restrictions to be announced in Maharashtra within next two days

Addressing the people of the state amid the ongoing Covid-19 spike, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Friday said strict restrictions within the next two days. Pointing out an imminent health care crisis in the state, the CM during his social media live interaction said as cases are rising, there is a scarcity of doctors. "As far as the health infrastructure is concerned, we have been ramping up continuously, but where will we get doctors and healthcare workers? In January, there used to be 350 patients a day. But now, the number has gone up to 8,500 a day," the CM said.

With more than 50 per cent of the country's active Covid-19 cases being concentrated in the state, the present situation is worse than 2020, when the pandemic was believed to be at its peak. The Centre has also expressed concerns over the worsening Covid-19 situation of the state. The state government earlier instructed district administrations to impose local lockdowns to rein in the spread of the infection. Akola, Amravati, Yavatmal, Nagpur districts have come under restrictions in February and March. The Pune district authorities on Friday announced fresh restrictions on malls, restaurants, asking them to remain shut for seven days. Maharashtra, which has been worst-hit from COVID-19 so far, reported as many as 47,827 new cases on Friday - its highest since the pandemic spread to India in March 2020 - and 202 deaths. The numbers accounted for more than half of the over 81,000 new COVID-19 infections reported across the country by the Union Health Ministry earlier in day, the highest daily number in six months. Vaccination drives have been intensified amid the recent surge of cases, and many states are considering imposing fresh curbs on movement of people.