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‘Lockdown can be avoided, if…’: Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik
On Sunday, chief minister Uddhav Thackeray asked officials to begin preparing plans for “another lockdown.” In the second wave of Covid-19, Maharashtra is contributing nearly 60% to India’s daily new cases of the viral disease.
Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik on Monday stressed the state “cannot afford another lockdown,” adding that it can be avoided if people follow rules to check the rising cases of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19).
Also Read | Nagpur’s Covid-19 tally rises by over 3,000 again, death toll nears 5,000
“We can’t afford another lockdown. We have asked the CM to consider other options. Due to the rising cases, he has directed the administration to prepare for lockdown but that doesn’t mean a lockdown is inevitable. If people follow rules, it can be avoided,” Malik told news agency ANI.
Earlier in the day, Chandrakant Patil, the president of the state unit of the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) also opposed a possible lockdown. “Lockdown is not an answer to the increasing Covid-19 cases in Maharashtra. If it is imposed, the state government will not give any relief package. How people lived in the last one year cannot be understood by sitting inside Matoshree,” Patil remarked, as per PTI.
Matoshree is the family residence of Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray.
With daily cases of the coronavirus disease rising in the state, CM Thackeray on Sunday asked officials to start preparing plans for the implementation of another lockdown. Thackeray has repeatedly urged citizens to follow Covid-19 norms and warned of a shutdown in case norms are not followed or are violated. A night curfew also came into effect in the state from Sunday night.
Also Read | Maharashtra's daily tally dips with 31,643 fresh Covid-19 cases
Maharashtra last recorded less than 30,000 new coronavirus cases on March 23, when its tally went up by 28,699 infections. The western state’s infection tally is the highest in India, and currently stands at 2,745,518 and its death toll is at 54,283. Its active caseload of 336,584 is also higher than that of any other state or Union territory.
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