Coronavirus outbreak: Maharashtra extends lockdown till July 31

Slow moving traffic on Western Express Highway. Pic/Satej Shinde

With spike in Coronavirus cases, the Maharashtra government on Monday extended the lockdown in the state till July 31.

The state government announced that concerned district collectors and commissioners of the municipal corporations may enforce certain measures and necessary restrictions in specified local areas on the permitted non-essential activities and movement of persons to control the spread of the virus.

Key Highlights:

• All private offices can operate with up to 10 percent strength or 10 people whichever is more
• Liquor shops will continue to operate if permitted, home delivery or otherwise
• All Govt offices with certain exceptions to function with 15 percent strength or 15 persons whichever is higher
• All non-essential markets, market areas, and shops, except malls and market complexes to remain open from 9 am to 5 pm

The government further stated that all government offices with certain exceptions like emergency, health and medical, treasuries, disaster management and police will function with 15 per cent strength or 15 persons whichever is higher. Meanwhile, all private offices can operate with up to 10 per cent strength or 10 people whichever is more.

On Sunday, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had said, "Don't think that the lockdown restrictions will cease after June 30...The threat of Covid-19 still looms over the state and all precautions need to be taken."

Besides fighting the novel coronavirus, the Maharashtra CM added that the citizens must protect themselves from other monsoon diseases like malaria and dengue.

For the third consecutive day, Maharashtra's Covid-19 cases jumped sharply from Saturday's highest of 5,318 to 5,493 on Sunday, while deaths in Pune Division crossed 1,000, health officials said.

The state's fatalities again shot up from the June-lowest of 62 to 156 Sunday, down from the previous one-day highest deaths figure of 248 notched on June 23. Earlier, on June 16, the state had reported the highest 1,409 fatalities taking into account reconciliation of earlier deaths, which drastically escalated the toll.

With Sunday's 156 fatalities, the state death toll climbed from 7,273 to 7,429 and total cases zoomed to 164,626 till date, both being the highest in the country. This comes to roughly one death recorded every 9 minutes and a staggering 229 new cases notched every hour in the state.

After 3 days, the recovery rate marginally fell from 52.94 per cent to 52.59 per cent, and the mortality (death) rate stood at 4.51 per cent.

(With inputs from IANS)

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