‘Fight against Covid-19 to be tougher now, prepared with extra health facilities’: Maharashtra CM

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday held an online briefing on the prevailing coronavirus situation in the state and said that the fight against Covid-19 is going to be a “tougher one” but the administration is prepared with extra medical facilities.

Thackeray said that it was wrong to impose lockdown suddenly. On the lockdown deadline of May 31, he said that “we can’t end it all at once”

Thackeray thanked the people of Maharashtra for showing their discipline and following the lockdown. He said that the Covid-19 cases in Maharashtra were projected to be around 1.15 lakh by May end but currently, “we have 33,786 Covid-19 cases, around 13,404 have recovered,” he said.

“This is due to the lockdown and discipline maintained by you all,” the chief minister said.

 Also read: 67% of India’s Covid-19 cases come from 4 states

The fight against COVID19 is going to be tougher now but there is no need to panic as we are prepared with extra health facilities: Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray as positive cases cross 47,000 in the state

The number of active patients is 33,786 and over 13,000 have recovered. pic.twitter.com/siCrEZcPjn— ANI (@ANI) May 24, 2020

Thackeray cautioned against the rise in Covid-19 in the state and said that the administration is preparing and creating hospital infrastructure for an increase in load of Covid-19 cases.

“By the end of May, we will make 14,000 beds available, currently we have already created around 7,000 beds including 3,000 in our field hospitals,” he said. The chief minister also cautioned against the approaching monsoon season which is likely to trigger a host of related ailments and seasonal infections.

Maharashtra continues to bear the brunt of increasing coronavirus infections. Till Sunday morning, as per the Ministry of Health, the state reported 47,190 Covid-19 cases - highest in the country. Covid-19 fatalities in Maharashtra have risen to 1,577 while more than 13,000 coronavirus patients have beaten the infection and have been discharged from hospitals across the state.

Mumbai, Thane, Pune are the worst-hit districts in Maharashtra. Covid-19 cases have crossed the 28,000-mark in Mumbai while 949 patients succumbed to death due to coronavirus in the country’s financial capital. Thane has reported over 6,000 cases of infections and 85 fatalities. In Pune, Covid-19 cases have jumped to 5,347 while 257 have died.