'May extend lockdown post Apr 30; Mumbai to be under red zone'
Mumbai, Apr 11 () Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Thane,Palghar, and Pune will fall under the "red zone" as they havereported 91 per cent of the total 1652 positive cases inMaharashtra so far, Health Minister Rajesh Tope said onSaturday after Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray extended thelockdown period in the state till April 30.
Tope also said that the lockdown could be extendedeven beyond April 30 if people fail to follow the socialdistancing norms.
Tope was speaking to reporters after attending themeeting of chief ministers and health ministers of states withPrime Minister Narendra Modi from Mumbai through videoconferencing.
Speaking about the meeting, Tope said the primeminister spoke about dividing all the districts in the countryin red, orange and green zones on the basis of the number ofcoronavirus positive cases.
The red zones will include districts which havereported more than 15 COVID-19 cases, while the orange zoneswill cover the areas where 15 or less number of cases havebeen reported, the minister said.
The green zones will cover the districts which havereported 0 or one case, Tope said, adding that the detailedguidelines with regard to such zones will be issued in a dayor two.
"Though we have extended the lockdown (inMaharashtra), we will get guidelines on whether we can allowsome activities by keeping boundaries of the districts whichfall in the green zones sealed," he said.
Maharashtra has become a third state after Odisha andPunjab to extend the lockdown period till April 30. Thedecision was announced by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackerayafter attending the meeting with the PM.
Tope further said that Mumbai, Thane, Palghar, NaviMumbai and Pune have reported 91 per cent of the state's 1652positive cases so far and will fall under the red zone and thelockdown will remain there.
He said the prime minister also talked about theconcept of "lock-in" during the meeting under which theindustries that will observe 100 per cent discipline andensure social distancing by their workers may be allowed tooperate.
"However, it is the prime minister who will talk aboutit in detail in his address to the nation," Tope said.
"During the conference, the prime minister praisedrural areas where lockdown has been observed strictly. Incities, I will urge people to observe the lockdown strictly,"Tope said.
In view of the extended lockdown in Maharashtra, thehealth minister urged people to observe discipline in astricter manner.
"The CM has announced that the lockdown will remain inforce for 15 another days (beyond April 14). He has stressedthat the lockdown will be there for minimum 15 days. So, onething has to be kept in mind that we must observe disciplinenow.
"Or else, there will be no other alternative but toextend it (further)," he added.
The minister further said that Thackeray demanded theprime minister to allow Maharashtra to conduct "pool testing"in which swabs of a group of people will be tested at a time.
In case the samples test positive, only thenindividual tests will be carried out to ascertain the patient.
"It will save our time and testing kits," the ministersaid, adding that Maharashtra has so far conducted 33,000individual tests.
During the meeting, Thackeray demanded that the Centreprovide medical equipment assured for fighting the coronavirusdisease to Maharashtra, Tope said, adding that the PMresponded positively to the demand.
He said the PM asked all the chief ministers todownload the Aarogya Setu mobile phone application.
The application was launched by the Centre on April 2.
Meanwhile, Tope dismissed reports of shortage of PPEkits in the state.
"We have 40,000 PPE kits and 3.50 lakh masks availablein the state," he added.
Tope further informed that of the total number ofCOVID-19 patients in the state, 70 per cent are"asymptomatic", 25 per cent "mild symptomatic" while theremaining 5 per cent are "critical".
He said the cumulative daily growth (of number ofCOVID-19 patients) is approximately 13 per cent, while thedeath rate is 5.5 per cent.
Tope said the government will categorise hospitals inthree ways: COVID Care Centres (CCC) in which there will be100 per cent asymptomatic patients will be treated and COVIDHealth Centres which will treat persons with mild symptoms andCOVID Hospitals where severe and critical individuals will beadmitted.
"A big hospital like Seven Hills (in Mumbai) can treatpatients of all three categories, he added. ENMNSK NSK