Maha mulls lockdown extension in Mumbai, Pune

Shiv Kumar

Tribune News Service

Mumbai, April 10

The Uddhav Thackeray government wants the 21-day countrywide lockdown extended by at least two weeks in Mumbai, Pune and surrounding areas in view of the rising Covid cases.

Sources said the state government was planning to pursue an aggressive containment strategy, where residents of entire clusters would be tested and suspected cases would be quarantined in public facilities. On Thursday, the government requisitioned contingents of the State Reserve Police Force to augment

the local police in cordoning off large parts of Dharavi and other parts of Mumbai.

“We are getting more positive cases because we are testing more people. We plan to increase testing in the coming days,” Mumbai’s Municipal Commissioner Praveen Pardeshi said in an online communication with mediapersons today.

Lockdown norms in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad have been tightened in containment clusters, with the authorities even banning the sale of groceries and essential items to prevent people from coming out on the streets. The police have also deployed drones on a large scale to monitor people venturing out in congested areas.