Devendra Fadnavis lambasts MVA govt over surge in COVID-19 cases, argues against lockdown

BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday advised the Maharashtra government to stop covering up for its failure to handle the COVID-19 situation by blaming the Centre. This was a reference to the statements made by some Ministers who claimed that there was a shortfall in the supply of novel coronavirus vaccines to the state. Countering this claim, the ex-Maharashtra CM pointed out that the state government hadn't utilised 55% of the vaccines sent by the Union government.

Highlighting that Maharashtra accounts for 60-65% of India's COVID-19 cases and deaths, he called upon the Maha Vikas Aghadi to introspect. Earlier in the day, the Leader of Opposition expressed delight at the fact that the state government had accepted his suggestion of ramping up testing. As a result, Fadnavis revealed that the state had conducted an average of 1,26,950 COVID-19 tests in the last 10 days. Arguing against the re-imposition of a lockdown, he contended that the formula of 'test, trace and treat' was the best solution to stop the novel coronavirus spread. 

Former Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis remarked, "This is a wrong statement. On the last occasion itself, the Centre made it clear that Maharashtra has not utilised 55% of the vaccines it has given. The Centre has asked the Maharashtra government to increase vaccination. You cannot hide your failure by pointing fingers at the Centre. Maharashtra will have to introspect as to why is there such a difference between the COVID-19 spread in the state and the Centre. Why are 60-65% of the country's cases and deaths taking place in Maharashtra?" 

Night curfew imposed in Maharashtra

Amid the huge surge of COVID-19 cases in Maharashtra, CM Uddhav Thackeray on Friday announced that a night curfew will be imposed in the state from March 28. This decision was taken after he chaired a review meeting of the novel coronavirus situation in the presence of multiple Ministers and key officials of each district. As per the new rules, a gathering of 5 or more people will not be allowed from 8 pm to 7 am. Moreover, all public places, cinema halls, malls, auditoriums and restaurants will remains closed for the same duration.

However, home delivery and takeaway from restaurants shall be allowed during the said time. Besides imposition of stricter penalties, the state government has mandated that the proportion of RT-PCR tests in the total mix should be scaled to 70% or more. Meanwhile, the ban on social, religious, cultural and political gatherings will continue. At present, there are 26,73,461 novel coronavirus cases in Maharashtra out of which 23,14,579 patients have recovered while 54,073 deaths have been reported.