Coronavirus: Section 144 imposed across Maharashtra, decision on complete lockdown today

Mumbai, Apr 21: Amid the rising COVID-19 cases, the Maharashtra government has imposed Section 144 across the state. Meanwhile, the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government is mulling to impose a strict lockdown in the entire state to deal with the situation.

According to NCP leader and state minister Chhagan Bhujbal, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray will announce a decision about lockdown today.

"We have made all the efforts to minimise the COVID-19 figures. He will announce the decision (to impose lockdown) on Wednesday after finalising a detailed Standard Operating Procedure," Bhujbal, the Food and Civil Supplies minister, said.

"We may have to impose restrictions on the local train movement in Mumbai too," he added.

On Tuesday, COVID-19 cases shot up again in Maharashtra with the state reporting its highest ever death toll with a spike in the number of active cases. The state's fatalities jumped from the previous high of 515 (September 15, 2020) to a new peak of 519 on Tuesday. With this, the state's overall death toll shot up to 61,343, the worst in the country.

After a record high of 68,631 new cases notched on April 18, Maharashtra on Tuesday reported 62,097 new cases, up from Monday's 58,924, taking its overall tally to 39,60,359.

On a bright side, new cases in Mumbai dropped from 7,381 on Monday to 7,192 on Tuesday - as its overall tally shot up to 594,059, 16 days after the city had reported its highest daily spike of 11,206 cases on April 4. With 34 deaths, the total fatalities in the country's commercial capital went up to 12,446, the highest in a single city in the country.