No lockdown in Maharashtra, govt mulls additional restrictions

The state government has considered imposing restrictions instead of a complete lockdown, said state health minister Rajesh Tope. The decision was taken after holding a Covid review meeting chaired by Deputy CM Ajit Pawar.

"In light of the growing number of Covid cases, the Covid Task Force suggested augmented restrictions instead of a complete lockdown. This would mean more restrictions on non-essential activities that could attract crowds. A complete lockdown is not needed at this stage. But crowds need to be curbed," Tope said.

About 10-15 ministers and 60-70 MLAs have tested Covid positive. The authorities appealed to everyone to follow Covid-appropriate behaviour.

The new guidelines will be notified after Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray's approval.

The state may see a sudden rise of up to 25,000 Covid cases and expressed concerns over the community spread of the infection.

He added that the quarantine period has now been redefined to 7 days followed by an RTPCR test.

The state will now conduct Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) as RTPCR tests for everyone will be difficult due to the sheer number of cases. "We will be setting up kiosks for antigen tests, and chemist stores will be asked to keep a record of the antigen test kits sold," he said.