Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said here on Monday night that State Government would enforce the lockdown-4 norms more strictly in red zone areas as it would have to tide over the Coronavirus crisis in the State before the onset of the monsoon, even as 51 more people succumbed to Covid-19 and 2033 others tested positive for the pandemic in various parts of the State.
Addressing the people across the State through social media on the day when the Lockdown-4 began, the Chief Minister said: “We can lift the lock down at any time. But I know what will be consequences of lifting the lockdown at this State. I do not want to push the state into a crisis. I am ready to face any kind of crisis of criticism. I am not going to take the decision of lifting the lockdown in a hurry”.
“But, we will have to tide over the Coronavirus crisis before the onset of the monsoon in the state. Hence we will enforce the lockdown-4 ve5ry strictly,” Uddhav said.
“The normal activities are beginning in the green zone areas. We are giving permission to start shops. But, we will enforce the lockdown- 4 strictly in the red zone areas of the state,” the chief minister.
Meanwhile, with 51 fresh deaths and 2033 new positive cases, the total number of deaths mounted to 1,249 and the infected cases to 35,058. “Of the total infected cases, 25392 are active cases,” a State health official said.
Of the total deaths, Mumbai accounted for 23 deaths, while there eight deaths each in Navi Mumbai and Pune, three deaths in Jalgaon, two deaths each in Aurangabad, Ahmednagar and Nagpur and one death each in Bhiwandi and Palghar. Additionally, one death of a Bihar resident occurred in Mumbai.
Out of the dead, 35 were men while 16 were women. Twenty one of them aged over 60 years, 19 were from the age group 40 to 59 years and 11 were aged below 40 years.
“Thirty five out of 51 patients (68%) had high-risk co-morbidities such as diabetes, hypertension, heart disease,” the state health bulletin said.
Out of 2,82,194 laboratory samples, 2,47,103 tested negative and 35,058 samples tested positive for COVID-19 until Monday.
In a related development, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), New Delhi has decided to conduct a communitybased sero-survey in 69 districts of 21 states in the country.
To carry out this surveillance activity, National Centre for Disease Control, New Delhi, National Institute of Epidemiology, Chennai and National Institute for Research in Tuberculosis, Chennai are providing the necessary technical support.
Six districts from Maharashtra have been included in the list of 69 districts. They are: Ahmednagar, Beed, Jalgaon, Parbhani, Nanded and Sangli. Blood samples from random selections of 40 people each from 10 clusters (total 400) will be tested using ELISA technique developed by National Institute of Virology (NIV). “Antibodies from blood serum will be detected in this way. This surveillance will help understand the spread of COVID-19,” the bulletin said.