Keypoints:
- Maharashtra reports 40,414 new Covid-19 cases, 108 deaths in 24 hrs, a record jump.
- Maha CM asked the officials to plan for another lockdown.
- He has also prompted the authorities to consider stricter guidelines to control the spread.
- Maharashtra reported the highest number of new cases in a day on Sunday.
On Sunday, Maha CM Uddhav Thackeray asked the state officials to start preparing for another lockdown and make a plan for the same. The state has been continuously recording high level of Covid cases. On Sunday, the state reported record 40,414 cases of Covid-19 amid a nationwide surge in infections.
As per an official statement, a meeting was held with Chief Minister Thackeray and Maha Health Minister Rajesh Tope. The members of the state Covid-19 taskforce said that the state could report 40,000 fresh infections over the next 24 hours.
“In (Sunday’s) meeting of the (Covid-19) task force, it was suggested that very strict restrictions like lockdown should be imposed immediately,” the office of chief minister Uddhav Thackeray said in a statement. A senior official in the state government said the lockdown could take effect “in the coming days” as officials had been asked to prepare to implement it in a phased manner.
Thackeray blamed the citizens for flouting all Covid rules and said that the state would be forced to take this step. To counter the alarming surge of infections and deaths,chief minister’s announcement came soon after the state’s Covid-19 taskforce recommended strict measures including a lockdown.
The state tightened travel restrictions and imposed night curfews as it reported 40,414 new coronavirus cases on Sunday.
The task force has recommended that the state government should implement measures like strict lockdown to curb the rise in COVID positive cases.
