Maharashtra announced new restrictions in some districts this week.
Bombay:
Maharashtra will impose a nightly curfew starting Sunday, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s office said, as the state struggles with its biggest increase in coronavirus infections since the start of the pandemic. Shopping centers will be closed from 8 pm to 7 am, depending on the order.
Thackeray warned of stricter restrictions if people did not follow COVID-19 safety rules. He said district chiefs will decide when to order closures, but said there will be no sudden shutdowns statewide and the public will be notified in advance.
“I do not wish to impose the lockdown. But it appears that there is a possibility that healthcare facilities will fall short given the increase in the number of coronavirus patients,” Thackeray said in a statement issued by his office.
He called on officials to ensure the availability of adequate hospital beds and medications, according to the statement.
Maharashtra recorded 35,952 coronavirus infections on Thursday, the highest increase in a day since the pandemic began. The state has added more than a lakh of cases in four days.
Cases have skyrocketed in several states since late February, following a near-total reopening of the economy and failure to comply with safety measures, such as the use of face masks and social distancing, health officials say.
More than half of the new infections were in Maharashtra, home to the financial capital Mumbai, where millions have returned to work in offices and factories.
The local government imposed a total blockade for ten days in the worst affected cities, Nanded and Beed, after a cabinet meeting.
“It was suggested allowing the local administration to impose localized blockades instead of imposing blockades across the state,” said a senior government official who declined to be named, referring to comments made during the meeting.
Maharashtra has also reported a new variant of the virus, called a “double mutant,” raising concerns about the increase in cases.
India’s overall case load is Rs 1.18 million, the third highest behind the United States and Brazil. The country reported 251 new deaths, bringing the overall count to 1,60,692, the data showed.
Businesses have been urging governments to ease restrictions in the run-up to the Holi festival this weekend. Restrictions have been lifted in the Maharashtra city of Nagpur and large crowds have been seen in commercial areas, state police said.
“It is a Catch-22 in which the closure of stores created a lot of inconvenience for merchants and people, but on the other side is COVID, which is spreading,” Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar told Reuters.
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