Maharashtra crosses 5,000 Covid cases after 76 days, strict measures imposed

On Thursday, the state recorded 5,427 new cases of Covid-19, taking the count to 2,081,520. Authorities in Yavatmal, Akola and Amravati have imposed either partial lockdown or strict restrictions .

After a gap of 76 days, Maharashtra crossed 5,000-mark of Covid-19 cases and lockdown restrictions returned in Yavatmal, Akola and Amravati districts, which accounted for almost 20% of the state’s tally. On Thursday, the state recorded 5,427 new cases of Covid-19, taking the count to 2,081,520. The number of active cases is 40,858, following 2,543 reported recoveries in the last 24 hours.

People sitting with their masks pulled down at Chembur market in Mumbai on Thursday. (Satish Bate/HT Photo)

Thursday’s figures are the highest since December 4, when the state had reported 5,229 cases. The Covid death toll rose to 51,669, with 38 casualties reported on Thursday. Of these, 17 occurred in the last 48 hours and 10 in the last week. The remaining 11 deaths are from before last week, officials said.

State health secretary Dr Pradeep Vyas on Thursday directed all district collectors and municipal commissioners to strictly implement Covid protocol; limit the number of people at gatherings; increase testing; and ensure at least 20-30 contacts are traced for each Covid-positive patient. Vyas has also instructed that the number of reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests be increased by 20 times in areas with spikes in new cases and medical centres should alert local authorities if they come across suspected Covid-19 patients. Furthermore, areas like public toilets, bus depots and railway stations should be disinfected regularly.

Following the spike in Covid-19 numbers, authorities in Yavatmal, Akola and Amravati have imposed either partial lockdown or strict restrictions such as night curfews in their jurisdictions. From midnight today, Yavatmal district will have night curfews and gatherings of more than five are not allowed. Amravati district will observe complete lockdown once a week, on Sunday. Akola administration has also decided to enforce lockdowns on Sundays and night curfew.

Chief secretary Sanjay Kumar has ordered the district collectors of Yavatmal, Amravati and Akola districts to declare the most affected areas as containment zones. These are Amravati municipal corporation area and Achalpur tehsil in Amravati district; Yavatmal, Pusad and Pandharkwada municipal council in Yavatmal district; and Akot, Murtizapur tehsils and the area under Akola municipal corporation. “Detailed orders regarding permissible and non-permissible activities as well as all requisite precautionary measures in the said zones may be issued by you immediately,” said Kumar in his order.

On Thursday, these three districts accounted for more than 1,000 cases, with 733 cases Amravati; 212 in Akola; and 131 in Yavatmal.

State transport minister Anil Parab said chief minister (CM) Uddhav Thackeray has given powers to district authorities to take preventive measures in order to control the spread. “Covid-19 cases are rising in Akola, Amravati and Yavatmal. The chief minister has given all the powers to local authorities to bring the situation under control. They can also impose lockdown if required,” Parab told reporters on Thursday.

Deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar said that the number of cases were rising because the general public was not taking the necessary precautions. “The Central government also removed restrictions related to theatres and others; and the state also allowed local train services and state transport bus services, which cannot remain suspended for a very long time. Consequently, cases started rising,” said Pawar on Thursday. “If you see Amravati, the number of daily positive patients has reached close to Mumbai’s figures. It means things are getting serious there and we will have to make strict decisions to contain the spread,” he added.

The order issued by Yavatmal collector M Devender Singh states that not more than five people can gather at a time in the district as well as city areas. Large gatherings for religious, festivals and any other purposes have been restricted to not more than 50 people. The collector has also banned all processions and rallies. The limit for attending last rites of a deceased is 20.

Timings of shops and markets has also been restricted till 8pm at night while hotels and restaurants are allowed to operate till 9.30pm. Schools and colleges will remain close till February 28 and continue studies through online classes.

“Those not using masks at public places will be fined ₹500 for the first time, ₹750 for second time offence and a fine of ₹1,000 and a criminal case for repeated offence will be registered after that,” states the order. All the restrictions will be enforced till Friday midnight.

In Akola, complete lockdown will be imposed between 8pm on Saturday to 6am on Monday. During this period, no one will be allowed to move freely in the district except for medical services, wholesale milk and vegetable supplies, auto rickshaw for travellers coming through railways and bus services, highways and dhabas at highways etc.

District collector Jitendra Papalkar has also decided to impose night curfew between 8pm and 6am. Not more than 50 people can attend wedding ceremonies, and in case of violation, they will be fined and the management will have to pay ₹10,000 as penalty in addition to ₹200 against each person other than 50 people, states the order. The district collector has restricted timings of shops, markets, hotels, restaurants, theatres etc till 8pm. All schools and colleges will remain close till February 28.

District administrations in Nagpur, Buldhana, Parbhani and Jalna have either restricted gatherings to less than five people or have started to strictly implement the government’s standard operating procedure (SOP).

Meanwhile, the vaccination drive saw 48,006 people get inoculated on Thursday. Of them, 40,931 were given the first shot of the vaccine while 7,075 were administered the second shot. Since January 16, when the vaccination drive began, 830,345 have received the vaccine, with 591,758 healthcare workers (HCWs) having got the first shot and 23,732 HCWs having got both shots. So far, 214,855 frontline workers (FLWs) have received the first shot, according to the state health department.

Maharashtra has around 800,000 HCWs and 580,000 FLWs registered on the centralised CoWIN app.

Meanwhile, the state task force formed for clinical management of critical patients has also made several recommendations to the state. Dr Rahul Pandit, member of the state-appointed task force, said contact tracing should be increased to 18 to 20 people against each positive patient and those violating Covid-19 guidelines should be penalised. The task force also reviewed the protocols for clinical management of patients so that hospitals in the state are prepared in case of a surge in patients needing treatment in intensive care units (ICU). “We are in the process of preparing video capsules which would be available to anyone across the state for complete Covid management from asymptomatic patients to ICUs. The videos will have detailed information on how to approach a patient symptomatic or asymptomatic, their line of treatment and all the other details,” said Dr Pandit.