Third wave scare: Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray warns of lockdown in case of COVID-19 surge

File Photo

Mumbai: Anticipating the third COVID-19 wave, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday (August 8) said that the administration would impose lockdown if the number of new infections rises in the state.

Addressing people through social media, the CM said that even though restrictions have been relaxed in some districts, there are others that are witnessing a rise in new cases.

“Other states are now seeing an increase in outbreaks. In case of an increase in the number of patients in the state, there will be a lockdown,” Thackeray said.

“Although relaxations in COVID-19 restrictions have been allowed in Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad, the infection is still on the rise in some districts of the state like Sindhudurg, Ratnagiri, Raigad, Kolhapur, Satara, Ahmednagar, Beed, Pune, Sangli,” he added.

Thackeray said that about 20 lakh people were affected in the first wave of the pandemic and 40 lakh people in the second wave.

He also listed the preparations made by the state government to deal with the pandemic, from increasing testing labs to vaccination capacity.

He said that the state has 600 testing labs, the number of isolation beds increased to more than 4.5 lakh, and there is availability of 34,507 ICU beds and 1,10,683 oxygen beds. He also pointed out that the state presently has 13,500 ventilators.

“The state has a huge vaccination capacity. We can vaccinate eight to ten lakh people a day, but given the limited availability of vaccines, the mask is our real protector today,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Mumbai local train services have been ordered to start from August 15 for people who have taken both the doses of COVID-19 vaccine.

The state reported 5,508 new COVID-19 cases, 4,895 recoveries, and 151 deaths in the last 24 hours. With this, the total number of cases has reached 63,53,328. The total recoveries stand at 61,44,388.