Mumbai: Ahead of the upcoming festivals, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray sought cooperation from political and social groups as well as all spheres of society against Covid-19. He appealed to Mumbaikars to apply caution and not let their guards down as COVID-19 continued to hang over everyone’s heads like the ‘sword of Damocles’. “Maharashtra and the rest of the country had succeeded in slowing the spread of the virus, but there was a need to continue focusing on testing, tracing and treatment as well as following all COVID-19 protocols”, he asserted.
Furthermore, Thackeray said that people needed to behave more responsibly as health experts fear upcoming festivals may act as super spreaders, with a new variant of the virus already being detected in Maharashtra and some other states.
His appeal comes after the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) extended the ongoing COVID-19 guidelines for one more month till September 30 and asked states to continue focus on 5-fold strategy – test-track-treat-vaccination, Covid-appropriate behaviour. Issuing fresh guidelines, the Centre asked states and union territories to ensure there is no large gathering during the upcoming festival season and, if necessary, impose local restrictions to curb the spread of COVID-19
Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla asserted that the overall pandemic situation now appears to be largely stable at the national level, except for the localised spread observed in a few states. The total number of active cases and high case positivity in some districts continue to remain a matter of concern, he told the chief secretaries of all states and UTs in his identical letters.
“The state governments and UT administrations concerned, having high positivity in their districts, should take pro-active containment measures so as to effectively arrest the spike in cases and to contain the spread of transmission. It is important to identify warning signs of potential surges early on and to take appropriate measures to curb the spread. This would require a localised approach, as has been mentioned in Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) advisories dated April 25 and June 28,” he added.
