'Maharashtra to decide on lockdown soon,' says Dy CM Pawar; slams crowding during Diwali

Preparing for a possible second wave of Coronavirus (COVID-19), Maharashtra Deputy CM Ajit Pawar, on Sunday, said that further decision on lockdown will be taken soon. Rebuking citizens crowding during festivals like Diwali and Ganesh Chaturthi, he said that 'People were crowding as if Corona died by crowds'. Maharashtra currently has 80,878 active cases and 16,47,004 recoveries and 46,573 deaths - the highest in the nation.

Coronavirus LIVE Updates: India's tally rises to 90,95,807; over 13 crore samples tested

Pawar: 'Decision on lockdown soon'

COVID-19: Maharashtra eyes suspension of train, flight ops to Delhi

Maharashtra mulls suspending flights & trains from Delhi

With Delhi witnessing the third wave of Coronavirus, the Maharashtra government is toying with the idea of suspending train and flight operations to and from Delhi, a senior official said on Saturday. Keeping in check with the rising cases, the Maharashtra government has already allowed the reopening of schools for classes 9 to 12 depending on the COVID-19 situation in local areas from November 23. While detailed SOPs are being prepared for the reopening of schools, Mumbai, Pune City, Aurangabad have decided to keep schools shut till December 30.

As per reports, COVID-19 testing numbers saw a sudden drop of up to 72% during November - especially during Diwali weekend.  The city which was conducting an average of 13,000-14,000 tests earlier in November but that has now dropped to less than 4,000. While 14,000 tests were done on November 5, only 3918 tests were done on November 15. While the state govt's COVID-19 Task Force found the drop alarming, BMC believes a lot of people have not reached hospitals and testing centres on account of Diwali. Currently, Mumbai has again boosted its testing rate to 13,000-14,000 tests.

Mumbai clocks 1092 COVID cases as testing increases again; city tally at 2,74,572

Curfews in other parts of India

While Delhi has ruled out a lockdown, it has increased the fine on not wearing masks to Rs 2000. Gujarat has introduced a 3-day lockdown in Ahmedabad, nightly curfews in  Rajkot, Surat, and Vadodara from November 21. Similarly, Madhya Pradesh has introduced night curfew in Bhopal, Indore, Gwalior, Ratlam and Vidisha districts with effect from November 21. Rajasthan too has decided to impose a night curfew in 8 districts and increased the fine amount on not wearing a face mask from Rs 200 to Rs 500.  A curfew will be clamped from 8 pm to 6 am in Jaipur, Jodhpur, Kota, Bikaner, Udaipur, Ajmer, Alwar, and Bhilwara. With 45,209 new COVID-19 infections, India's total cases have risen to 90,95,807 and 1,33,227 fatalities.

Gujarat govt imposes 3-day curfew in Ahmedabad till Monday amid rising COVID cases