'Stop programmes that attract crowds': Uddhav Thackeray tells political parties amid COVID-19 spike

Mumbai: Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Monday appealed to political parties to immediately stop agitations, meetings and other programmes to avoid crowding in the wake of a slight increase in the number of daily COVID-19 cases in the state. “We can celebrate festivals later. Let us prioritise the lives and health of our citizens. The situation can go out of hand in view of the spike in daily cases,” Thackeray said in a statement. “Who would like to impose restrictions on festivals and religious programmes? But people’s lives are important,” he said. The chief minister said the upcoming festive days were crucial and challenging. The onus is on political parties to ensure things do not go out of control, he said. The CM further said that the “third wave of COVID-19 is at our doorsteps”. “Kerala is seeing a spike of 30,000 cases daily. This is a danger signal and if we don’t take it seriously, Maharashtra will have to pay a heavy price,” he added. Since the past few days, Mumbai have been reporting more than 400 new COVID-19 cases every day, as per official data. On Sunday, Maharashtra reported 4,057 coronavirus cases, which took the state’s infection tally to 64,86,174, while the death of 67 patients pushed the toll to 1,37,774, the health department said.