Mumbai: The Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray reviewed the Covid- 19 situation in the state on Sunday, the Government said that Amravati district will be placed under lockdown for a week from Monday.

The Covid- 19 situation in the state “serious” and warned that lockdown would have to be re-imposed if daily Covid cases continue to rise in the next two weeks. In a virtual address, he said it would take “8 to 15 days” to ascertain if the current upsurge in daily figures is a fresh wave of infections. He also warned people to follow Covid- 19 protocols to avoid lockdown. The Maharashtra CM said that “Do we need a lockdown? If you behave responsibly, we will know in the next eight days. Those who don’t want a lockdown will wear a mask. Those who want a lockdown will not wear one. So wear a mask and say ‘No’ to the lockdown,” he said.

“The Covid- 19 figures are rising…the state was reporting around 2,000-2,500 daily cases; now, it is reporting nearly 7,000…active cases have jumped from 40,000 to 53,000…last year, the numbers that we had been getting during the Covid- 19 peak, are almost equal to what we are getting now…just think what the figures would be when we hit the peak again,” he said. “If the numbers keep rising till the next 8 to 15 days, lockdown will have to be announced,” he added.

240 new strains of the Covid- 19 have surfaced across India, which are behind the fresh surge of infections being seen since last week, Dr Shashank Joshi, member of Maharashtra’s Covid-19 Task Force. After a lull of three months, Maharashtra, which has the highest number of Covid- 19 cases in the country, reported over 6,000 daily cases last Friday. On Sunday, the state recorded 6,971 cases and 35 deaths. Mumbai, the state capital, logged 921 infections.

Thackeray said that local administrations have been permitted to place restrictions in the worst-affected districts. “In Amravati, Akola and many places, we have asked the officers to give a day and then announce restrictions and lockdown, wherever such steps are needed,” he said. He said he has ordered the state administration to ban political, religious and social gatherings that require attendance of a large number of people.