Maharashtra govt takes U-turn,no unlock,curbs to remain

The Maharashtra government has taken U-turn about the unlock announcement. The state government issued a clarification a few hours later on Thursday, stating that no Covid restrictions have been lifted anywhere yet.Relaxation of restrictions as per the situation in different areas is only under consideration and no decision has been taken, a statement from the chief minister's office (CMO) said. Later, disaster management minister Wadettiwar also clarified that only "in principle" approval to phasing out of the curbs had been given so far and no final decision had been taken.

In its official clarification on Thursday evening, the state government said that curbs have not been lifted because the spread of the virus has not been completely controlled yet. "The coronavirus spread is serious in some rural areas. The curbs have not been lifted in the state," the statement said. The statement on Thursday also said that the disaster management department has categorised districts based on five levels of severity of the pandemic. The levels of severity are determined by case positivity rate and availability of oxygen beds. The degree of relaxation in different districts will be decided based on the level of severity. Guidelines on whether to relax the curbs or further strengthen them in different parts of the state will be announced soon, the CMO's statement said.

After the state government issued its clarification, Wadettiwar informed reporters that "in principle approval was given to phased lifting of lockdown curbs on the basis of positivity rate and availability of oxygen beds". However, no final decision had been taken.He also added that Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar were present at the meeting."No `unlock' is happening in the state. Even though in principle approval has been given, final decision will be taken by the chief minister," the Congress leader stated.