India reports 89,129 fresh Covid cases,Maha to impose strict restrictions

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has said that in order to contain rising covid cases, strict restrictions will be announced in a few days. Various festivals, celebrations will be prohibited in order to avoid crowding. He clarified that the lockdown is not the solution but necessary decisions will be taken to save the lives of citizens. In his televised address on Friday night , Thakrey said the state will announce new restrictions within the next two days. "I cannot rule out imposing a lockdown if the current COVID-19 situation prevails. People have become complacent. We are in a Catch 22 situation - should we look at economy or health?" the Chief Minister said.

Maharashtra, which has been worst-hit from COVID-19 so far, reported as many as 47,827 new cases on Friday - its highest since the pandemic spread to India in March 2020 - and 202 deaths. Several districts have announced special restrictions like night curfew. India added 89,129 new coronavirus infections and and 714 related deaths in the last 24 hours amid a worrying surge in Covid cases that has prompted states like Maharashtra to consider lockdown. Saturday's surge is the highest since September 20 when 92,605 cases were reported. With the new infections and fatalities, the country’s tally mounted to 12,392,260 and its death toll to 164,110, data also showed.

The health ministry’s dashboard also showed that 7,30,54,295 people have been vaccinated against the viral disease so far. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said 24,69,59,192 samples have been tested for Covid-19 up to April 2 and of these, 10,46,605 samples were tested on Friday. Situation is grim in neighbouring Karnataka too. The state reported 4,991 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, taking the total tally to 10,06,229. In Tamil Nadu - which will vote in third phase of state polls on April 6 - 3,290 new cases were reported in a day, taking the caseload to 8,92,780. 12,750 people have died due to virus in the southern state so far. The state saw the cases cross the 2,000-mark on March 27, the 1,000-mark on March 19 and then touched 1,087, according to a health bulletin.