Ajit Pawar hints at another lockdown in Maharashtra

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Sunday hinted at another lockdown in the coming days in the state to combat coronavirus transmission.

Pawar pointed out that people formed crowd during festival time, including Diwali and Ganeshotsav. "In order to ensure safety, officials have been speaking to relevant departments to take necessary steps and after a thorough review of a situation over the next 2-3 days, the government will announce its steps, which could be another lockdown in Maharashtra," Pawar said in Pune.

Pawar's statement has come after Mumbai, Pune, and Aurangabad district officials decided not to reopen schools from November 23.

In an official notice, Pune Mayor Muralidhar Mohol announced the administration's decision to keep the schools in Pune City and neighbouring Pimpri Chinchwad closed for now. However, this restriction has not been extended to rural areas.

Aurangabad city administration has also released an order to keep the schools closed till January 3, 2021. Besides, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has also decided to shut all schools under its jurisdiction till December 31.

Maharashtra on Saturday reported 5,760 fresh COVID-19 cases, taking the count of infections to 17,74,455. So far, the state's death toll has climbed to 46,573. Mumbai has reported 2,74,579 cases so far while the number of fatalities mounted to 10,656. The state has so far conducted 1,01,20,470 tests.

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