Covid-19:Pm Modi Indicates Lockdown Will Be Extended As India Breaks The Daily Recods of Death Rate

PM Meets Amit Shah, Commerce And Aviation Ministers On Lockdown Strategy

PM Modi held a meet with Union Cabinet ministers on Thursday. (File)

MUMBAI: Maharashtra will extend the lockdown in some parts of the state even as it is set to end on 3 May across the country, said chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on Friday.

"The question asked is, what after May 3? I want to make it clear that we cannot lift the lockdown form red zones, like Mumbai-Pune belt, parts of Nagpur and some other places," Thackeray said in a webcast on the occasion of Maharashtra foundation day.

The home ministry has indicated that there will be considerable relaxations for many districts from Monday, while restrictions will continue in the "red zone", or areas worst affected by COVID-19.

On Wednesday, the government allowed lakhs of migrant workers and students stranded at various places for over a month to return home. Today, a special train for migrants ran from Telangana to Jharkhand.

The number of coronavirus hotspots, or "red zones", across India has fallen by around 23 per cent in 15 days, the government said today, from 170 on April 15 to 130 on April 30. Seven major cities in the country, including national capital Delhi, are "red zones"; Mumbai and Delhi alone account for more than 10,000 cases between them.

The "green zones", or districts reporting no new COVID-19 case, have decreased from 356 to 319 in the same period, indicating the virus is spreading to previously unaffected areas of the country.

The first coronavirus infection in Maharashtra was detected in March. The state reached 10,000-mark in 53 days. The total number of deaths in the state rose to 459 as 27 patients passed away in last 24 hours. The state also registered the highest number of deaths in India.

Mumbai, accounted for nearly 70% of Maharashtra's total covid-19 count. Over 400 new cases were registered in the city in the last 24 hours. Mumbai, has over 7,000 coronavirus patients and nearly 300 deaths. Pune reported 1,379 coronavirus cases and over 80 deaths.

"We will surely give relaxations after May 3 seeing the condition of specific areas but be cautious and co-operate, else whatever we have achieved in the past few days will be lost," Thackeray added.

Orange zones" have increased - from 207 to 284, per a letter from the Union Health Ministry to the chief secretaries of all states and union territories, following a video conference yesterday.

In a major change of criterion the government will now consider an infection-free period of 21 days to designate a district as "green", or virus-free. Previously this number was 28 days