Maharashtra extends lockdown till April 30: CM; says no option
Mumbai, Apr 11 () With continuous spike in COVID-19cases, the Maharashtra government on Saturday decided toextend the ongoing lockdown period till April 30, hours afterChief Minister Uddhav Thackeray attended a meeting with PrimeMinister Narendra Modi via video conferencing from Mumbai.
In a live webcast, Thackeray said the lockdown, whichwas supposed to end on April 14, will be extended till April30 in view of the lack of any other options.
Explaining the broad contours of the plan, the CM saidwhile restrictions would be eased in certain areas in thestate during the extended period, they will become stricter inothers.
The CM said he had conveyed this decision to the primeminister during the meeting of all the chief ministers.
Before Maharashtra, Odisha and Punjab had formallyextended the lockdown period till April 30.
Thackeray said the decision regarding pendingexaminations, restarting of industrial units and the migrantworkers stranded in the state will be announced before April14.
He further said that the complete lifting of thelockdown will depend upon how soon thechain of thecoronavirus transmission is broken in the most-affected state.
Maharashtra's tally of COVID-19 cases shot up to 1666earlier in the day with 92 fresh cases being reported,according to state Health department.
The state has so far reported 110 deaths due to theinfection while as many as 188 patients have been dischargedfrom hospitals after recovery, officials have said.
"Maharashtra has always shownthe path to the country.In the present crisis too, the state will lead in defeatingthe coronavirus, which has attacked all and not spared eventhe PM of the UK," the chief minister said.
Thackeray also asked people not to panic and calledfor a "continuous the determined" fight against the virus.
The chief minister said the state had so far testedmore than 33,000 samples, out of which nearly19,000 were fromMumbai, which he said is the "Gateway to India".
Talking about the cases in Mumbai, which has been hitthe hardest by the outbreak, Thackeray said, "60 to 70 percent of the nearly 1000 coronavirus positive persons in Mumbaihave displayed mild or very mild symptoms".
"Those who had unfortunately died had other ailmentsas well, and most of them had come to hospitals during thelast stage (of their illness)," he said.
According to the Mumbai civic body, the tally ofCOVID-19 cases in the country's financial capital mounted to993 with 64 deaths, as on Friday.
Appealing to people to work from home whereverpossible, the CM acknowledged that there is uncertainty andanxiety all around due to the lockdown.
"The number of coronavirus positive patients isincreasing...Everyone is at home and we don't know what todo," he said.
Meanwhile, the CM admitted that some persons who hadreturned from foreign countries not listed by the Centralgovernment for coronavirus check in initial days, were nottested at the international airport.
In an apparent reference to the ongoing politicalcontroversy over DHFL promoters Kapil and Dheeraj Wadhawan,who are accused in at least to cases of fraud, and theirfamily members being allowed to travelduring the lockdownperiod in the state,Thackeray said politics can wait.
"We have the whole life ahead to do politics," hesaid.