india

Updated: Apr 25, 2020 17:11 IST

Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray-led Maharashtra government may extend the Covid-19 lockdown in Mumbai and Pune beyond May 3. Maharashtra health minister Rajesh Tope told HT’s business publication Mint that the lockdown will need to be extended if the spread of coronavirus is not contained.

“The main objective of implementing the lockdown was to stop the spread of Covid-19 pandemic and if the spread is not getting contained, we will have to extend the lockdown,” Tope told Mint.

“If required, we will extend the lockdown for 15 more days after 3 May only for the containment zones, if not for the entire Mumbai and Pune,” the minister added.

Mumbai and Pune are Maharashtra’s two biggest coronavirus hotspots. Covid-19 cases here continue to rise unabated. Of Maharashtra’s total 6,817 coronavirus cases, 4,447 come from Mumbai while 961 cases are from Pune, Maharashtra health department’s Covid-19 dashboard stated.

Telangana is the only state which has decided to extend the Covid-19 lockdown till May 7.

On Friday, Tope said that the Maharashtra government will push for aggressive testing to detect coronavirus and also increase facilities for institutional quarantine, news agency PTI reported.

“The home quarantine facility was not working. So we have to expand institutional quarantine facilities outside containment zones,” he said.

The minister said the spread of the virus in dense slum pockets was a challenge and emphasised the significance of early detection of the disease.

“The number of cases is more because of early detection. We also want to increase the span in which cases double,” Tope stated.