Maharashtra

COVID-19

Uddhav Thackeray

lockdown

Mumbai

Asand India continue to battle thecrisis, Maharashtra Chief Ministeron Saturday addressed the state and announced that thewill continue in Maharashtra at least till April 30.The announcement was made by the Chief Minister after attending a video conference with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.Thackeray has been addressing the state on a regular basis since the lockdown to inform the people about the latest steps taken by the government.Maharashtra is among the few states with maximum Corona positive patients with over 1,600 cases, including 1000 fromThackeray also said that during the video conference with the PM, he informed him that he was inclined to continue with it even after April 14."Lockdown will continue at least until April 30. There could be some places where these restrictions could be eased but there will also be some areas where this will be strengthened even more.""We started with a curfew. Now, we are not waiting for patients to come, rather we are going to them. So far, we have conducted 33,000 tests in Maharashtra and 19,000 in Mumbai," the Chief Minister added.Stating that this Monday, it will be the fifth week since the first case was detected in Maharashtra, Uddhav Thackeray said, "The numbers are rising and though we have tried to keep a check on them, we are trying to do contact tracing. We are trying to break the chain."The Chief Minister also assured that they have not stopped the supply of essential supply. And even when the lockdown continues, essential services will not be interuptted. However, he appealed to people to strictly follow norms of social distancing.In an indirect swipe at the Opposition BJP, Thackeray also said that this is not a time to do politics."All states are with the PM, all state governments are with the Centre and Centre is with all states. This is not the time to do politics. I don't want to bring in any party politics in this. As I saw at the conference, we are together and this must continue as it has so we can win this war (against the virus)."Citing the example of how even the United States asked India for medicines, Thackeray added, "India can truly emerge as a power and strength to reckon with globally after we win this battle."Earlier in the day, Modi held a video conference with chief ministers to take their feedback on whether the 21-day nationwide lockdown should be extended beyond April 14.Most states requested PM Narendra Modi to extend the lockdown by two weeks.Punjab, Odisha and Haryana states have already announced the extension of the lockdown.The ongoing 21-day nationwide lockdown to contain the COVID-19 crisis, announced by Modi on March 24, is to end on April 14.