Key points:
- ‘There were huge crowds during Diwali period. Even at the time of Ganesha Chaturthi, we saw crowds… Now there are predictions that second Covid wave may come,’ says Ajit Pawar.
- Meanwhile, CM Uddhav Thackeray urged people to follow the safety protocols strictly in order to avoid imposition of another lockdown.
New Delhi: Maharashtra Deputy CM Ajit Pawar on Sunday hinted at a Covid-induced lockdown in the coming days in the state owing to huge crowds witnessed during the recently concluded festival period.
“There were huge crowds during Diwali period. Even at the time of Ganesha Chaturthi, we saw crowds. We are speaking to relevant departments. We’ll review the situation for next 8-10 days and then a decision will be taken about the lockdown,” said Pawar in Pune.
“Now there are predictions that second wave may come. Government has made a lot of regulations to start schools, which includes different ways on how they should be sanitized,” he further said.
The state government has allowed reopening of schools for classes 9 to 12 from tomorrow depending on the Covid-19 situation in local areas.
Reopening of schools has been postponed in Pimpri Chinchwad till 30 November in view of Covid-19 situation. “A total of 17 teachers and teaching staff have tested Covid positive out of 5,671 samples tested in the rural area of Pune. More teachers & teaching staff will be tested,” said Pune Zila Parishad on Sunday.
Pawar’s statement comes at a time when speculations are gathering steam about the state considering a possible suspension of train and flight operations to and from Delhi in view of the rising coronavirus cases in the national capital.
“Various measures are being discussed in order to curb the virus spread in the state, and suspension of train and flight operations to and from Delhi is one of them,” Principal Secretary Sanjay Kumar told PTI.
“However, no decision has been taken so far on this,” he added.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday urged the people of the state not to lower their guard against COVID-19 and follow the safety protocols strictly in order to avoid imposition of another lockdown.
He said that although he has been advised to impose a night curfew, he does not believe that anything can be achieved by imposing such restrictions.
Stating that the Unlock process does not mean that the pandemic is over, Thackeray asked the people to remain cautious.
In a webcast, he said even though people were largely adhering to the COVID-19 safety protocols, many others were still not following the directive of mandatory use of masks and still venturing out into crowded places.
