As Maharashtra headed into a weekend lockdown, two senior government ministers on Friday spoke of the possibility of an extended lockdown in view of the fast rising cases of coronavirus infection and the stretched healthcare system in the state. Health Minister Rajesh Tope said Maharashtra seemed headed towards a lockdown; Relief and Rehabilitation Minister Vijay Wadettiwar said the time for such a step was already here.Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray will hold an all-party meeting on Saturday to build consensus on the steps needed to break the chain of transmission. A complete lockdown will also be discussed at the meeting.

“I am not in favour of a total lockdown but the state seems to be heading in that direction. If cases continue to rise and we exhaust our beds we will have no option but to implement a lockdown,” Tope said. A two-three-week lockdown with tough restrictions would give the state time to ramp up its health infrastructure, he said.

The Minister clarified that there was no immediate threat of the healthcare system collapsing. “When hospitals are overwhelmed and when there is dearth of doctors, we will need a lockdown. For now we have not reached that point,” he said. Relief and Rehabilitation Minister Vijay Wadettiwar, however, said the situation in Maharashtra was precarious, and that an immediate lockdown was needed.

“In the present situation we are facing a shortage of oxygen, there is a shortage of ramdev sivir as well, the state is also facing the issue of vaccine shortage. In the next 5 to 10 days the patient count is going to jump from 5 lakh to 10 lakh and things will get out of hand,” Wadettiwar said. “I have told the CM that unless we have a strict lockdown for three weeks it will be difficult for us to break the chain of transmission,” he said.
Wadettiwar said his idea of a strict lockdown was to shut all shops and only allow home delivery of essential commodities.

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