Maharashtra Chief Minister warns of a second lockdown if the COVID-19 situation doesn’t improve in next two days

The government in Maharashtra (the state that is home to India’s financial capital Mumbai) is getting into battle mode as the second wave of COVID-19 infections beat the record of the first wave of the pandemic that broke out last year.

In his address to people of the state, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray cautioned the people that there might be another lockdown, if needed. “People have become complacent,” he said.

The state logged over 43,000 cases and 249 deaths in a single day on April 1.

Along with his appeal for people to follow social distancing guidelines more strictly, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray also assured his electorate that the administration is afraid that the health infrastructure may be stretched if the cases continue to spike at the current rate. “62% of the beds are occupied,” he said and added that the tests will be escalated to 2.5 lakh per day in the coming days, of which 70% will be RT-PCR tests.

Thackeray also trained his guns on the Narendra Modi administration at the Centre. According to the Shiv Sena Chief, the state of Maharashtra has the capacity to vaccinate 600,000 people in a day but, currently, only half that number of people are getting the shots. “If the centre provides more vaccines, they can vaccinate as many as people,” he said.

Over 90% of all the new COVID-19 cases (as well as the deaths) in India are coming from 11 states and union territories, as of April 1, according to government data. Maharashtra tops that list. Cities like Pune and Nagpur have seen the situation worsen in recent days.

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