COVID-19 third wave at doorsteps, can celebrate festivals later, warns Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray

File Photo (PTI)

New Delhi: Ahead of the festive season, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Monday (September 6, 2021) warned that the third wave of COVID-19 is at the doorsteps and that everyone can celebrate the festivals later. The Shiv Sena leader also appealed to political parties to immediately stop agitations, meetings and other programmes to avoid crowding.

"We can celebrate festivals later. Let us prioritise the lives and health of our citizens. The situation can go out of hand in view of the spike in daily cases," the Maharashtra CM said in a statement.

He added, "Who would like to impose restrictions on festivals and religious programmes? But people's lives are important." 

Thackeray said that the upcoming festive days were crucial and challenging and that the onus is on political parties to ensure things do not go out of control.

He also added that the 'third wave of COVID-19 is at our doorsteps'.

"Kerala is seeing a spike of 30,000 cases daily. This is a danger signal and if we don't take it seriously, Maharashtra will have to pay a heavy price," Thackeray added.

This is to be noted that Maharashtra reported 4,057 coronavirus cases on Sunday, which took the state's total infection tally to 64,86,174. There were also 67 fresh fatalities that pushed the death toll to 1,37,774.

Meanwhile, India recorded 38,948 new COVID-19 cases and 219 deaths on Monday. The country's overall caseload has now increased to 3,30,27,621 while the death toll stands at 4,40,752.

(With agency inputs)