In the wake of rising Coronavirus cases in Maharashtra, chief minister Uddhav Thackeray addressed the people of state today.
To curb the rise of Covid cases, the CM ordered that all processions, religious gatherings and political events in Maharashtra will be cancelled from tomorrow.
The CM has urged all political parties to not organise big political, social, religious functions. "We are reducing the number of public events. We are canceling many of our events. If we don't follow the rules then we will have to impose a strict lockdown," he said.
He also appealed the public to wear masks and maintain social distance in order to avoid another lockdown in the state. "The decision to implement another lockdown lies in the hands of public," he said.
'Mi Jababdar campaign' will be launched and he expects that the public will cooperate.
The CM will seek reply in next eight days on whether to impose another lockdown in state. "Those who do not want will follow norms and those who want will wander without mask" he added.
Commenting on the vaccination drive in the state, he expressed, "one relief is that we have vaccines. In Maharashtra about 9 lakh Covid warriors have been vaccinated so far. There are no deadly side effects came to the fore. Urge remaining Covid warriors to come forward and get vaccinated."
"More vaccines will be produced. Only after that general members of public will get vaccinated," he added.
The CM said that from two testing labs 500 labs have been made operational now. "Despite crisis the government signed MoUs for investment of over Rs 1 lakh crore. The virus is growing again. We were relaxed in between so again we have to take extra steps to avoid infection," he added.
Commenting on the guidelines issued to the international arrivals he said, "the returnees from abroad are quarantined for 7 days in hotels to avoid further problems."
In the wake of violation of norms in banquet halls, the government will take stern action and similar action for violation of norms in public spaces.
"Today there are 6971 patients detected. A fortnight ago only 2000 cases were detected. Cases were brought down due to work by COVID-19 warriors, some of them lost their lives" he said with regards to the efforts taken by the healthworkers.
The state on 20th February reported 6,281 new coronavirus infections in a single day for the first time after more than three months, indicating a worsening pandemic situation.
Mumbai reported the highest single-day spike of 897 new cases since January this year. Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) reported 430 new cases, Amravati Municipal Corporation reported 806 fresh cases, and Nagpur Municipal Corporation recorded 548 new COVID-19 cases.
According to health department report, 40 COVID-19 deaths were reported in the state today. 2,567 patients were discharged today, taking the tally to 19,92,530. The recovery rate in the state stands at 95.16%. Currently 2,28,060 people are in home quarantine and 1,610 people are in institutional quarantine.
