Maharashtra is on verge of a complete lockdown: CM

Urging political parties and industrialists opposing the lockdown to cooperate, chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on Friday said Maharashtra is on the verge of a complete lockdown, amid the spike in Covid-19 cases

Urging political parties and industrialists opposing the lockdown to cooperate, chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on Friday said Maharashtra is on the verge of a complete lockdown, amid the spike in Covid-19 cases. The state on Friday recorded 47,827 cases, highest ever in a day so far. It has breached the 2.9-million-mark, pushing the count to 2,904,076. It was the second consecutive day when the state reported 40,000-plus cases and third consecutive day when fatalities crossed the 200-mark. Similarly, Mumbai also reported a record number of cases — 8,844.

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Addressing the people of Maharashtra virtually on Friday evening after a review meeting with ministers and top officials from the government, Thackeray warned that hospital beds will start falling short in the next 15 days if the current spike continues and the state will have to take a decision on the lockdown. Thackeray said he would speak to various political leaders and experts from various sectors over the next two days and take a decision over the lockdown.

“I am not announcing the lockdown, but definitely warning about it. I am sure we could avoid the lockdown if we decide firmly against it. We will observe the situation for the next couple of days, if people are observing the protocol strictly and if we could have an alternative to the lockdown. But in case of no such solution, I can’t simply allow the situation to go out of hands. Many countries have been going through their second or third lockdowns in response to the second or third wave of infection. We too will have to follow suit,” he said.

“We will issue guidelines for stricter curbs in the next couple of days. The decision on the lockdown will be taken after talking to political leaders and experts from various fields in two days. Political parties and industrialists have been opposing the lockdown and warning government against it. We are in a catch-22. If a lockdown is imposed, we face economic crisis. At the same time, lives are more important to us. Many countries, including France, United Kingdom, Belgium and Brazil, have imposed a strict lockdown for many weeks in their fight against the second wave,” he said.

“We have ramped up the infrastructure, by increasing the number of hospital beds to 375,000 from about 10,000 during the pre-Covid-19 period. The beds are filling very fast. 62% or 137,549 of 220,000 isolation beds are occupied, 48% of 20,519 ICU beds are occupied, 25% of 62,000 oxygen beds are full. 25% of the 9,347 ventilators are under use for Covid-19 patients. In some districts, we have started facing shortage,” he said.

Officials from the state said they have not arrived at a decision on imposing complete lockdown. “A strict warning has been given to the sections of the society responsible for crowding and violation of the protocols. The representatives of restaurants, mall owners, banquet hall operators have been requesting us to not impose lockdown. They were taking the guidelines very lightly until now resulting in these establishments becoming the hotbeds of the spread. If restrictions are followed, we won’t need a lockdown,” an official who was part of the meeting said.

The officer said the government has kept all options open. He said guidelines to be issued in the next two days are an attempt to make people strictly follow the key mantra of avoiding crowding and following Covid-appropriate behaviour. To ensure this, the government is expected to impose stricter restrictions by reducing the working hours of malls, restaurants, theatre or shutting them down for few days. “Besides these commercial establishments, we may also ask private offices to take steps like work from home, staggering of working hours to reduce crowding and reduce the load on public transport. If the targeted response is achieved, we may not go for lockdown,” he said.

The state is also expecting the second wave to subside in next two-three weeks. “In Kerala, it has started subsiding. The same is the case in Amravati, which was the first district to witness the second wave. If the situation improved in districts like Nagpur, Pune and Mumbai, we can expect the reduction in numbers rapidly,” said an official from the health department.

He added, “To break the chain of transmission, which is faster due to the double mutant strain, there is need to imposed stricter norms. We may wait for more few days from lockdown, by enforcing the stricter norms very minutely.”

Thackeray also responded to political parties and industrialists who have been advising him not resort to lockdown and adopt other measures to control the outbreak. “We have been advised by a few to ramp up health care infrastructure, which we have done over the last one year. But where are we going to get doctors, nurses and health care workers, who are already under pressure and have started taken ill,” Thackeray said. He added that the political parties should come out on the streets, not to oppose the lockdown, but to fight unitedly against the pandemic.

“Many ask me why there is no rise in the number of cases in other states. I do not want to talk about other states, but we have been maintaining transparency without hiding anything about the cases. We have been ramping up the healthcare infrastructure, but where would get doctors and healthcare workers from,” he said.

Thackeray also said they plan to vaccinate 600,000 citizens daily. On Thursday, the state vaccinated 310,639 beneficiaries. State health department officials said Maharashtra is expected to cross the 300,000- vaccination mark for the second day in a row. However, the final figures were yet to be compiled by the department. As per the latest data of the health department released on April 1, Maharashtra has inoculated 6,556,499 beneficiaries.

“Maharashtra is at the top in the states, in terms of [total] vaccination. Yesterday [April 1], we vaccinated 300,000 people in a day. Excluding today’s [April 2] numbers, Maharashtra has inoculated 6.5 million people since the drive began [in January]. We have the capacity to scale it up to 600,000-700,000 vaccinations per day, but we must get that kind of supply. We have been seeking more doses from the Centre and we are confident that they will be provided,” Thackeray said.

Responding to the address by CM Uddhav Thackeray, leader of opposition Devendra Fadnavis tweeted in Marathi: “UK, Germany, Irland...every country had given stimulus packages to their citizens...the comparison should not be only about the situation, but about what the government has done...Covid can be tackled more effectively by own introspection and not by hating opposition and experts.”

However, current average of vaccination in the state is much lower at around 87,000 per day. Officials attribute the low average to a low turnout in the initial days of the vaccination in January and February. “For the last few weeks, the turnout has gone up, especially after senior citizens and people above 45 years [with comorbidities] were made eligible. We anticipate a further increase in the coming days as people over age 45 have been allowed,” said a health department official, requesting anonymity.

State health minister Rajesh Tope seconded Thackeray’s view that the state has the capacity to scale up its vaccination drive. “Definitely, we can increase to 600,000 shots in a day. We have everything ready, including manpower, vaccination centres, etc, we just need supply of doses. Currently, the doses that we have will last around five to six days,” he said.

“We are not currently talking about the lockdown, as it would not be required if the people strictly followed the protocol. We will definitely imposed stricter norms and also execute them very strictly. We have decided to not take sporadic decisions at district level without thorough scientific reasons for them and deliberation at the state level. The decision about the stricter norms imposed in Pune today was part of the changed strategy. But the restrictions imposed in Pune, may not be replicated in other districts or cities,” said Tope.

Tope said local trains in MMR will not be stopped but the SOPs for commuters will be issued in next couple of days. He said the passengers will have to follow the stricter norms while travelling to avoid transmission.

Meanwhile, on Friday, Mumbai recorded a slight jump in vaccination figures from Thursday. According to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) data, across 116 vaccination centres, Mumbai saw inoculation of 57,390 beneficiaries on Friday, an increase of 1,520 from Thursday. It saw an increase in the number of vaccination of people over the age of 45. Day two of vaccination of age group of 45 to 59 saw inoculation of 39,482 beneficiaries, which is an increase of 1,919 on Thursday. Of the 39,482, 991 beneficiaries took their second dose, while the remaining got their first jab. Among senior citizens, 12,592 beneficiaries got vaccinated on Friday.