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Not ruling out lockdown in Maharashtra, says CM Uddhav amid Covid-19 spike
Maharashtra chief miinister Uddhav Thackeray’s virtual address came after a review meeting with ministers and top officials.
Maharashtra is on the verge of a complete lockdown due to a recent spike in coronavirus infections that may overwhelm the state’s healthcare infrastructure in two weeks, chief minister Uddhav Thackeray warned on Friday, appealing to political parties, industrialists and ordinary people to cooperate and obey safety guidelines.
Thackeray’s virtual address came after a review meeting with ministers and top officials. The western state is, by far, the worst affected in India and has been driving the second wave of infections in India with record cases. On Friday, it posted 47,913cases.
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“I am not announcing a lockdown, but definitely warning about it. I am sure we can avoid a lockdown if we decided firmly about it. We will observe for the next couple of days, if people are observing protocol strictly. But in case no such solution found, I cannot allow to go the situation out of hand,” he said.
Thackeray warned that hospital beds will start falling short in next 15 days if the current spike in Covid cases continued. He also said stricter curbs will be announced in the next couple of days after speaking to political leaders and experts from various sectors.
“We will issue guidelines for stricter curbs in next couple of days. Political parties, industrialists have been opposing the lockdown and warning the government against it. We are in a Catch-22 situation. If a lockdown is imposed, we face an economic crisis. At the same time, people’s lives are more important for us. Many countries including France, United Kingdom, Belgium, Brazil have impose the strict lockdown for many weeks in their fight against the second wave,” he said.
Thackeray said the government had ramped up health infrastructure. “We ramped up infrastructure, by increasing the number of hospital beds to 3,75,000 from about 10,000 during the pre-Covid-19 period. The beds are filling very fast. 62% or 1,37,549 of 2,20,000 isolation beds have been occupied. 48% of 20,519 ICU beds are occupied, 25% of 62,000 oxygen beds are full. 25% of the 9347 ventilators under use for Covid-19 patients. If the rise continued there will be acute shortage of the beds. In some districts, we have started facing the shortage,” he said.
“We have been advised 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?” he asked.
“Till now, we have administered 65 lakh COVID-19 vaccine doses, including three lakh vaccine doses yesterday,” Thackeray said.
But some people are getting infected even after vaccination because they stop wearing masks, he added. People have become complacent, the chief minister noted, adding “I cannot rule out imposing lockdown if the current situation prevails.”
Thackeray asked political parties not to politicise the situation.“Don’t play with people’s lives. I am ready to become a villain for protecting people,” the CM said.
People should wear face masks, maintain physical distance, wash hands and avoid crowding, he appealed. “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 transperancy without hiding anything about the cases,” he said.
According to the officials privy to developments, the government has prepared an standard operating procedure and decision about stricter norms is expected in the next two days. “The eight districts severely hit by cases have already imposed lockdown or night curfew. There would stricter norms in other districts across the state,” Thackeray said.
