Lockdown in Maharashtra? CM Uddhav Thackeray to hold all-party meet amid COVID-19 surge

Mumbai: In view of the unprecedented spike in COVID-19 cases across the state, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray will hold an all-party meeting on Saturday (April 10) to discuss the pandemic situation.

During the meeting, which will be held this afternoon, the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government will take stock of the COVID-19 situation in the state. The meeting will be attended by prominent leaders of the three parties involved in the MVA government, leaders of BJP, leaders of MNS, API, SP, and others.

The government is said to be mulling a lockdown just like last year, according to government sources. Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council Pravin Darekar said the decision to organise the all-party meeting was taken this afternoon.

"This decision was taken during the meeting held today to decide the postponement of MPSC exams scheduled for Sunday," he was quoted as saying by PTI. When asked about the weekend lockdown, Darekar said the government should take a decision on financially supporting small businesses.

The state government has announced a 'strict lockdown' over the weekend which will start from 8 pm on Friday (April 9) and be in place till 7 am on Monday (April 12).

A night curfew has also been imposed in the state which will be in effect from 8 pm to 7 am daily. Essential services will be exempted from the restrictions.

As per the notification, essential services including medical, grocery, fruit, milk shops will be allowed to open. Hotels can run the delivery system. Section 144 has also been imposed prohibiting the assembly of five or more people throughout the day.

Maharashtra had on Friday reported 58,993 new cases of coronavirus, which pushed its overall tally to 32,88,540, while the death of 301 patients took the toll to 57,329, the state health department said.

The state has been recording more than 55,000 cases over the past few days. The highest single-day spike of 59,907 cases was reported on April 7. With a record number of 2,45,707 tests conducted during the day, the count of people who have been tested so far in the state has grown to 2,16,31,258.

Of the total number, 15.2per cent has tested positive for the virus. The state's recovery rate is 81.96 per cent, while the fatality rate is 1.74 per cent, it said. Mumbai city registered a one-day spike of 9,202 cases.