Another meeting on Covid-19 to be held in Maharashtra today, SOPs for lockdown likely to be discussed

Maharashtra, the state worst-hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, has been witnessing record number of Covid-19 cases every day. The state government has already imposed a strict weekend lockdown from Friday night till 7am on Monday.

Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray will hold a meeting on Monday on the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) situation in the state. The issue of imposing a lockdown will also be discussed, with cabinet minister Aslam Sheikh saying that the focus of Monday's meeting with state departments is likely to be on standard operating procedures (SOPs) and guidelines for lockdown.

The police checking papers of people going out during weekend lockdown announced by Maharashtra government, in Mumbai on Sunday. (Anshuman Poyrekar/HT Photo)

At the Covid-19 taskforce meeting on Sunday, all the stakeholders agreed that there is a need to imposed a lockdown in Maharashtra.

"In today's meeting with the state Covid-19 taskforce, everyone was of the view to impose lockdown in the state. SOPs and guidelines for it will be discussed in the next meeting," Aslam Sheikh told reporters after the meeting on Sunday.

The meeting was chaired by Thackeray via video conferencing in which measures were discussed, including the imposition of a lockdown in the state, to break the virus chain.

"Some of the stakeholders in the meeting were of view that the lockdown must be for two weeks, some were in favour of three weeks but at least 8 days lockdown to be imposed and lockdown is a must. If a lockdown is imposed, then the result must come," said Sheikh.

Maharashtra is the worst affected state and has been witnessing record number of Covid-19 cases every day. On Sunday, the state recorded its highest one-day spike with 63,294 new cases. It also recorded 349 related fatalities in a 24-hour timespan.

The state has been witnessing more than 40,000 cases every day since April 1. In just 11 days of this month, Maharashtra has recorded more than half-a-million cases of Covid-19 (594,179 to be exact). To understand how the situation has spiralled out of control, the state recorded 487,519 infections between November 2020 and February 2021.

The state government has already imposed a strict weekend lockdown from Friday night till 7am on Monday.