Maharashtra likely to have lockdown on weekends from Friday 8 pm to Monday 7 am

The Maharashtra Cabinet which met today has decided against imposing a full lockdown as  per a CNN-News18 report. However, as cases soar and the situation in the state remains ‘grim’, several more curbs are going to be put in place soon. Among these, the most prominent is going to be a full weekend lockdown which will be in place from 9 pm on Friday to Monday morning 7 am. The Chief Minister also spoke with MNS chief Raj Thackeray on phone and asked him to work with the state government and cooperate with it as the state might have to impose a new lockdown. Maharashtra reported nearly 50,000 new cases on Saturday - around 60 per cent of all cases reported from across the country on that day. On Friday the state reported around 48,000 cases. State capital Mumbai reported over 9,000 cases on Saturday - the most in a day since the pandemic began in December 2019. On Friday the city reported over 8,800 new cases.

Pune, one of the biggest cities in the state, has also reported alarming figures; on Friday the district administration ordered a 12-hour night curfew and the shutting down of shopping malls, religious places, and hotels and bars for a week, as well as that of public buses. According to the centre, eight of the top 10 worst-affected districts in India are from Maharashtra.On Saturday the Chief Minister warned that rising daily demand for oxygen cylinders would soon force him to divert those meant for industrial use as well. Last week the Mumbai civic body warned of a shortage of beds as it prepped for a potential 10,000 new cases per day.On Friday Mr Thackeray, who has previously shied away from imposing a full lockdown, also warned of a "Catch-22 situation" - one in which such a drastic step could not be ruled out, even at the potential catastrophic cost to the economy, if the surge in cases continued."I cannot rule out imposing a lockdown if current Covid situation prevails. People have become complacent. We are in a Catch-22 situation - should we look at economy or health?" he said."If this condition continues, I have told you already that in 15 days we will exhaust our infrastructure. So today I am giving a warning of a lockdown. Not announcing a lockdown yet. But if I don't find a solution in two days after speaking to more people, then I have no option," he said.