Published 18:26 IST, March 3rd 2021
Maharashtra govt not inclined to impose lockdown, reveals CM amid growing COVID-19 cases
While revealing that it was not the government's wish to impose a lockdown, Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray said that he won't put the lives of people at risk.
While revealing that it was not the government's wish to impose a lockdown in the state, Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray affirmed that he won't put the lives of people at risk. Speaking on the floor of the state Assembly on Wednesday, he elaborated on the good work done by the state government to tackle the COVID-19 crisis. Maintaining that he doesn't care if anyone calls him a "villain", Thackeray stressed that he would do all it takes to safeguard the lives of the people.
Taking a dig at BJP's insistence on easing curbs, he urged the opposition to not politicise the crisis. On this occasion, Thackeray also took a swipe at the JP Nadda-led party over the Chinese aggression, rise in fuel prices and the protests against the farm laws. Claiming that RSS was not a part of the freedom struggle, the CM contended that simply chanting 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai' doesn't make BJP a patriot.
Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray remarked, "To break the chain of the infection, lockdown is a dominant weapon. It is not our wish to impose a lockdown. To stall the livelihood of the poor cannot be the prerogative of any state government". He added, "We are increasing health services instead of imposing a lockdown. But are the health services in the UK, Germany, Israel, Italy and Australia who have imposed a lockdown inferior to that of Amravati?"
COVID-19 crisis in Maharashtra
On Tuesday, March 2, 7863 persons tested positive for the novel coronavirus in Maharashtra taking the state's COVID-19 tally to 21,69,330. At present, there are 79,093 active cases in the state. With 6332 COVID-19 patients discharged in the day, the number of recovered soared to 20,36,790. With Mumbai recording 849 cases in the day, it remains a major novel coronavirus hotspot in the state. 54 deaths were reported on Tuesday. Out of the total deaths reported in the day, 30 occurred in the last 48 hours, 18 in the last week and the rest from the period before. Until now, a total of 52,238 persons in the state have died owing to COVID-19.
So far, 1,64,21,879 samples have been tested for the novel coronavirus in labs operational across the state. While 3,55,784 persons are under home quarantine, 3558 others have been admitted to institutional quarantine centres. The COVID-19 positivity rate, recovery rate and fatality rate in Maharashtra stand at 13.21 per cent, 93.89 per cent and 2.41 per cent respectively. While a total of 13,04,261 healthcare and frontline workers have been inoculated in Maharashtra so far, 1,94,535 of them have received the second dose of the vaccine too.
Updated 18:54 IST, March 3rd 2021