Religious, social, and political gatherings will be banned across Maharashtra from Monday, February 22, owing to an increase in COVID-19 cases, said Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.
“Wear masks, observe discipline, and maintain social distancing to avoid another lockdown,” Thackeray told the people of the state.
In a 30-minute televised address against the backdrop of the sudden surge in coronavirus cases, he said the number of daily infection cases has risen from 2,500 to 7,000 within 15 days.
“The pandemic is raising its head in the state again, but whether this is a second wave will be known in eight to 15 days,” he said.
Till a few days ago, the daily spike of cases was between 2,000 and 2,500, he said.
There are 53,000 active cases in the state. Even in cities like Amravati, the spike being witnessed now was not so high when the state saw a peak in COVID-19 cases earlier, he said, adding, “This is alarming”.
“We felt that the pandemic was under control and a lot of hard work had gone into bringing it under control,” the chief minister said.
“Religious, social, and political gatherings will be prohibited in the state from tomorrow. Political agitations with crowds will have to be stopped for some time…All of us need to expand and spread our political base including myself, my allies, and the opposition parties. But let us not spread coronavirus,” he said.
Surjitt Sahani
