Today, April 10, at an all-party meeting on the COVID19 situation in the state, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray hinted at a complete lockdown in the state given the alarming rise in COVID-19 cases. He said that coronavirus cases were still on the rise in the state and lockdown should help break the chain.

Speaking about the possibility of lockdown in the state, after the meeting he tweeted that “if a decision about the lockdown is not taken today, a lockdown-like situation will automatically come into force tomorrow”. 

He went on to acknowledge the various suggestions provided by the opposition party to control the spread of the virus. “On one hand, there is public sentiment, and on the other, the Corona pandemic. In this situation, we will have to bear some hardship to win this battle,” Thackeray said. The state government is in touch with experts from different sectors on this, he added.

“Everyone has agreed to ensure that the daily wage earners, labourers and the working classes are not hit hard while imposing stricter measures. Planning is underway to ensure this,” said the chief minister.

A final decision on the complete lockdown in the state is likely soon.

Today, Aslam Shaikh, the state cabinet minister, said that “the government is trying to avoid lockdown hence stringent measures were enforced including weekend lockdown. But it seems to have no effect on new COVID cases. All party representatives held a meeting today, to discuss all possibilities to contain the pandemic.”

Last week, the Maharashtra government enforced a complete weekend lockdown and night curfew during the week days in the state, which came into effect from April 5. In view of that, all shops, except those that sell essential items, such as, food items and medicines, will remain shut during the weekends.

Also Read: 11,163 new COVID19 cases in Mumbai today; Maharashtra govt declares weekend lockdown

Yesterday, in an interview to NDTV, Rajesh Tope, the state health minister, said Maharashtra is heading for a lockdown in case the COVID-19 situation does not change in the state.

“We are heading towards a lockdown but I hope that we don’t have to go for one,” he told the news channel. “Before that if we contain the virus, we will be happy, satisfied and contented. We are hoping for the best,” the minister added.

Also Read: COVID19: Is Maharashtra heading for a lockdown?

The recent data shared by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare shows Maharashtra has reported the highest daily new cases at 58,993. The state capital, Mumbai, has reported 9,327 new COVID19 positive cases and 50 deaths in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of cases to 510,225.

India’s total active caseload has reached 1,046,631. Ten districts account for 45.65 per cent of the total active cases in the country. Of these, six districts are from Maharashtra — Pune, Mumbai, Thane, Nagpur, Nashik, Aurangabad.

Meanwhile, today, over 3.4 million vaccination doses were administered in the country in the last 24 hours. Cumulatively, 98,075,160 vaccine doses have been administered. With 9.82 per cent, Maharashtra has the highest share in the country’s cumulative doses given so far.

There are reports of many vaccination centres in Maharashtra being closed temporarily owing to the shortage of vaccines. On April 8, a vaccination centre in Mahim and Jumbo Vaccination Center at ESIS Hospital in Vashi, was closed after it ran out of vaccine doses. Vaccination has stopped in districts like Satara, Sangli and Panvel.

On April 9, only 272,000 people were vaccinated in 2,881 centres. Earlier, Maharashtra vaccinated more than 400,000 people at 4,000 centres.