Maharashtra Tightens Covid-19 Curbs Till April 15

Amid a surge in Covid-19 cases across the country, the Maharashtra government has tightened Covid-19 restrictions in the state till April 15.

In an official notification, the government announced the same.
Public places like beaches and gardens will remain to remain shut from 8 pm to 7 am effective from midnight of March 27. Violation of the same will attract a penalty of Rs 1000 per head.

“Any person found to be without masks shall be fined an amount of Rs 500. Any person found to be spitting in public places will be fined an amount of Rs 1000”, informed Maharashtra Government.

“Six states–Maharashtra, Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh continue to report a surge in the COVID daily new cases. 79.57 per cent of the new cases are reported from these 6 states,” informed the Union Health Ministry.

A total of 62,258 new cases were registered in the last 24 hours.

Union Health Secretary, Rajesh Bhushan chaired high-level review meeting today with Additional Chief Secretaries, Principal Secretaries and Secretaries (Health and Family Welfare) of 12 States and Municipal Commissioners and District Collectors of 46 districts that are the most affected by rising cases and rising mortality because of Covid -19. These states are Maharashtra, Gujarat, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Punjab and Bihar.

Dr V K Paul, Member (Health), NITI Aayog was also present during the review meeting.

Through a detailed presentation, the States were informed that the country has seen the sharpest rise in weekly COVID cases and fatalities since May 2020 (7.7 per cent and 5.1 per cent respectively). The focus was on 46 districts that have contributed 71 per cent of the cases and 69 per cent of the deaths this month. Of total 36 districts in Maharashtra, 25 are most affected that account for 59.8 per cent of the cases reported in the country during the past week. (ANI)