'Stop programmes that attract crowds': Uddhav Thackeray to political parties amid COVID-19 spike

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Monday appealed to political parties to immediately stop agitations, meetings and other programmes to avoid crowding in the wake of a slight increase in the number of daily COVID-19 cases in the state. "We can celebrate festivals later. Let us prioritise the lives and health of our citizens. The situation can go out of hand in view of the spike in daily cases," Thackeray said in a statement. "Who would like to impose restrictions on festivals and religious programmes? But people's lives are important," he said.The chief minister said the upcoming festive days were crucial and challenging. The onus is on political parties to ensure things do not go out of control, he said. The CM further said that the "third wave of COVID-19 is at our doorsteps". "Kerala is seeing a spike of 30,000 cases daily. This is a danger signal and if we don't take it seriously, Maharashtra will have to pay a heavy price," he added. The Maharashtra government on Sunday identified seven of the state’s western districts, including Pune, as regions of concern. 

Pune has been accounting for around 22 per cent of Maharashtra’s fresh Covid-19 cases for the last 10 days. Between August 26 and September 4, a total of 9,815 new cases have been detected in Pune district, according to a state health department report. Ahmednagar reported 7,555 new cases, followed by 5,033 in Satara, 4,067 in Solapur and 3,843 in Mumbai in the last ten days, Dr Pradeep Vyas, the additional chief secretary of Maharashtra, said. Across the state, 44,437 new cases were detected during the same time period. At 6.58 per cent, the weekly positivity rate is also showing a steady rise in Pune district. The state’s positivity rate stands at 2.71 per cent. Ahmednagar, Sangli, Satara, Sindhudurg, Osmanabad, Ratnagiri and Nashik are the other districts having positivity rates higher than the state average. Meanwhile, no Covid-19 cases reported in Dhule on September 4, Nandurbar had reported only one case. Wardha, Washim, Nagpur, Gadchiroli, Parbhani, Hingoli, Jalgaon, Amravati, Buldhana and Yavatmal are among 17 districts with less than 100 Covid cases.