Head Of India's Maharashtra Warns Of Lockdown-Like Restrictions Amid Surge In COVID-19

NEW DELHI (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 29th March, 2021) Chief Minister of the Indian state of Maharashtra Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday asked health authorities and a COVID-19 task force to prepare for lockdown if infection cases continued to grow at the same speed.

India has been witnessing a sharp rise in the number of daily coronavirus cases since the beginning of March with the number rising to over 62,000 and being the highest this year. The state of Maharashtra in the north of the country � home to India's second-largest city of Mumbai � imposed a night curfew this weekend amid the rise in new infections.

At a meeting with the coronavirus task force, Thackeray said that restrictions similar to lockdown would be imposed if people continued to violate COVID-19 protocols.

"That is why strict steps like lockdown must be considered," the chief minister said, as quoted by Indian media.

Earlier this month, the city of Amalner in Maharashtra introduced a three-day lockdown due to a surge in the COVID-19 cases.

India comes third in terms of the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases, following the United States and Brazil, with more than 12 million.