Maharashtra mulls full shutdown of Mumbai; cases rise to 48

Referring to the coronavirus pandemic as a “war-like situation”, Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday appealed to people not to step out of their

Referring to the coronavirus pandemic as a “war-like situation”, Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday appealed to people not to step out of their homes without reason amid talks that the government is considering a complete shutdown of Mumbai. On a day when the number of cases in Maharashtra rose to 48 (highest in the country) as three more people tested positive for the virus, the state laid down more stringent measures, including jail terms for people fleeing quarantine.

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Under the shutdown, if implemented, the state will order closure of the city’s lifeline — the local train network — and buses to ensure people don’t step out. In his address to people of the state, Thackeray indicated that they will have to stop all trains and buses if crowding is not reduced.

Public health minister Rajesh Tope said, “At present, we have imposed a partial lockdown. We are of the view that a lockdown should be imposed, but for that, we will have to come up with alternatives. Discussions are on with the CM and if Mumbaiites don’t comply to reduce crowds, then such a decision will have to be taken.” Tope cautioned the state could see a sharp jump in cases in April. Speaking to a news channel, Tope said, “If we study cases in China, Iran, the graph of cases was growing gradually. But after 30 days, there was a spike; it increased exponentially. We got our first case in early March. We may see a spike after March 30. Now, we need to ensure the spike isn’t too much...”.

Meanwhile, in the wake of a rise in incidents of people kept in isolation and being quarantined fleeing from facilities, home minister Anil Deshmukh directed police to punish offenders under the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897, for endangering lives. The offenders are liable to be punished with imprisonment up to six months and a penalty of ₹1,000.

Deshmukh tweeted, “Following repeated instances of people fleeing quarantine/isolation, the #Home Ministry is constrained to ask #MaharashtraPolice to act against such offenders endangering themselves and everyone else under the #EpidemicDiseases Act.”

According to officials from the home department, the directives have come after the health department requested assistance. “The police personnel deployed at the hospitals and facilities with the quarantine wards have been asked to be on alert,” an official said. Deshmukh said that rumour mongering through social media, too, was being closely monitored. “People found spreading false information about coronavirus will face action. We have also directed authorities to keep a close eye on hoarding of masks, sanitisers and other essential commodities,” he said.

Meanwhile, a day after the state government issued a diktat to bring down the attendance of employees to 50%, various departments decided to allow their employees to work on alternate days.

The attendance in government offices is expected to drop below 50% from Friday, according to officials.

The state issued a government resolution on Wednesday, directing all its departments and district offices to bring the attendance below 50%.

The head of the departments were told to chalk out the plan to implement the decision with immediate effect. On Thursday, most of the departments decided to allow their employees to work on alternative days, while a few departments such as home have allowed their employees to work for two days and stay home for the next two days.

The departments have submitted their plans to the general administration department (GAD).

“The attendance of employees had dropped drastically on Thursday and is expected to drop below half the strength from Friday as the plans are now ready. Of the next ten days, only five are working days, making the adjustments of the working days for employees easy.

The salaries of employees not reporting to the offices during these days will not be deducted,” said an official from Mantralaya.

Anshu Sinha, secretary, GAD, said, “We do not have an exact number of employees present in the offices today, but the number has dropped significantly.”

Around 5 to 10% of the Mantralaya have already sought medical holiday. Officials said that employees travelling long distance to Mantralaya have already started taking leaves.

Employees from departments involved in essential services such as public health, medical education and police have been excluded from the diktat. Meanwhile, the public health department has also directed government offices to minimise the use of air conditioners in offices to minimise the threat of the spread of the virus.

Of the three coronavirus cases reported across the state, two were in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) and one was in Ahmednagar. A 22-year-old Mumbai woman, with a travel history of London, tested positive, while a 47-year-old woman from Ulhasnagar who recently travelled to Dubai was diagnosed with the disease. The Ahmednagar patient is a man who had a travel history of Dubai.

According to Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials, both women came forward for tests after they felt they had symptoms of coronavirus and were tested positive for the same at Kasturba Hospital on Thursday. Further, all the high-risk and low-risk contacts of both individuals are being ascertained, and they will be tested, if required.

Padmaja Keskar, executive health officer, BMC, said, “We are monitoring close contacts of all patients who tested positive and further high-risk contacts of 68-year-old domestic worker are also being contacted to conduct tests.

Further, we would also like to appeal to those who are being suggested to be quarantined in homes to not be exposed to multiple people, ensuring they do not spread the virus to others.”

On the idea of a complete shutdown of the city, the idea was discussed in the last cabinet meeting held on Tuesday where another view came up that almost 50% of the population of the city had a hand-to-mouth existence.

Another minister, wishing not to be named, said, “What will they do in a scenario of complete lockdown? How will they survive and for how many days can the government shut down the public transport system? Thus we stressed that it should be used as a last resort,” he said.

On Wednesday, Thackeray had directed all public transport agencies, which include local trains, BEST buses, state transport buses and private buses, to carry passengers at 50% capacity to reduce crowding, so as to prevent further outbreak of the epidemic that has infected 48 people in the state so far.

He has also directed the local administration not to allow all shops to remain open all the time in a day and regulate the timings so that gathering can be reduced, which will help in preventing community transmission.

Officials said chief secretary Ajoy Mehta and many other senior officials, too, were of the view that the government should restrain itself from ordering complete shutdown as of now.

“The implications of lockdown are far-reaching and we need to work on all the aspects, before taking any such decision,” said a senior official, who did not wish to be named.

This was the reason cabinet deferred the decision and on Wednesday, the chief minister directed public transport system to carry passengers at half of their capacity.

CM also directed that the government employees will work on rotation basis and only 50% of employees will work on a given day, he said.

“This is a war against the virus that needs to be fought together,” the chief minister said in his 10-minute address.

Thackeray also asked those coming from abroad to strictly follow home quarantine instructions so that they do not infect others directly or indirectly.

This was his first address to the state, following the outbreak of novel coronavirus. In his live address, the chief minister said, “I’m again appealing you all not to venture out unnecessarily from the home; reduce crowding in trains and buses. The government can also stop trains and buses, but don’t want to take such a decision,” Thackeray said.

Just like soldiers, our doctors, medical staff and other government machinery are working 24x7 by putting their lives in danger ,then why people cannot support them by avoiding unnecessary travel, he remarked.

He requested the families whose members are coming from abroad to strictly follow home quarantine. “We have found few people roaming out who were supposed to be home quarantined. By doing this, you are infecting others directly or indirectly,” the chief minister said.

“We can defeat this crisis, but need to fight it out together. It doesn’t see caste and religion and thus we are expecting co-operation from across sections of the society. To make government machinery more effective, the stress on it needs to be reduced. It is in our hands, strictly follow government’s instructions. Do not believe any other source of information, except that of the government,” Thackeray said.

A section of government officials still feel that the government should take the decision of a complete shut- down of public transport like buses and locals for at least a week to curb crowding on the streets.

Meanwhile, the state home department has also directed district offices to expedite the bail process for inmates lodged in various jails to reduce crowding.

“Our 60 jails with a collective capacity of about 24,000 inmates have more than 36,400 prisoners. We have asked the district’s administrations to request the sessions courts for bails for undertrials arrested in non-serious cases, with punishments less than three years. We expect at least 5,000 inmates to get bail by expediting the process,” said an home department official.

Deshmukh said that the new prisoners coming to jails are being thoroughly checked before their entry and are being kept in isolation for a few days.

(with inputs from Mehul Thakkar & Swapnil Rawal)