Maharashtra:10 Ministers, 20 MLAs tested Covid positive

In Maharashtra, more than 10 ministers and 20 MLAs  have tested positive for coronavirus so far. Talking to reporter in Pune, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Saturday said that strict restrictions would be enforced if the COVID-19 cases continue to rise in the state. We cut short the assembly session recently. So far, over 10 ministers and over 20 MLAs have tested positive for coronavirus, he said.  On the possibility of imposition of more curbs,  Pawar said the state government is keeping a tab on the increasing number of patients. "If the number of patients continues to rise then there will be strict restrictions. To avoid strict restriction everybody should follow norms," he said.

Replying to a question, Pawar said, "After the meeting of the COVID-19 task force, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray directed the state chief secretary to issue orders to all collectors to avoid public gatherings to stop another wave of the pandemic. Based on this, the permission might have been denied in the larger interest. In Maharashtra, cases are increasing in Mumbai and Pune, he said. 

Maharashtra has seen a sharp rise in new daily coronavirus cases in the last 12 days of 2021. The state government, in fresh guidelines issued on Thursday night, capped the attendance at gatherings in open or closed spaces at 50. Mumbai on Friday reported 5,631 new COVID-19 cases, almost 2,000 more than Thursday, which took the caseload in the city on the last day of the year to 7,85,110, a civic official had said. This was a rise of 53 per cent over 3,671 cases recorded on Thursday. The COVID-19 positivity rate in Pune touched 5.9 per cent on Friday after 412 cases were detected, raising the tally within civic limits to 5,10,218, as per officials.