Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday inaugurated a COVID-19 hospital for children at IT Park in Kalina Campus. While inaugrating the hospital, the CM urged all political parties, religious and social organisations not to do anything that endangers lives of citizens, the covid crisis is not over yet.
"I urge all political parties, religious & social organisations not to do anything that endangers lives of citizens. The COVID crisis is not over yet," the CM was quoted as saying at the event by news agency ANI.
During a virtual meeting of opposition leaders convened by Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Friday, Uddhav Thackeray had urged the opposition parties to win people's trust and also called upon them to stay united and strong.
Talking to reporters, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Saturday said, "During the meeting, Thackeray stressed that the parties must win people's trust." "As of today, there is no lust for power among the opposition parties, but even when the chair of power is in sight, people should be able to trust the opposition parties with the belief that they will remain strong and united," Raut quoted Thackeray as saying during the meeting.
Amid the spread of Covid Delta-plus variant and the possibility of the third wave hitting the state, Maharashtra government had put of its decison to open schools on August 17.
The paediatric task force had observed, “While we need to see that a child's education and mental health does not suffer, we have to take precautions to prevent hasty school openings from worsening a third wave. It is conscious of the effects and problems created by the prolonged closure of schools with the third wave likely in the next month or so. However, it would not be wise to open schools right away.”
Meanwhile, Public Health Minister Rajesh Tope, on Thursday, indicated that the state government would be taking a call on reopening schools and colleges in the next four to five days.
Maharashtra reported 4,365 new coronavirus cases and 105 deaths on Friday, while 6,384 patients recovered from the viral infection, a health department official said. The state's infection tally thus rose to 64,15,935, while the death toll reached 1,35,672.
As many as 6,384 patients were discharged from hospitals during the day, taking the recovery count to 62,21,305. There are 55,454 active cases in Maharashtra.
