Maha to impose night curfew from today midnight, weekend lockdown ruled out

Omicron tally in Maharashtra saw a spike with 133 more cases, taking the total number of Omicron cases in the State above 1,000. Of this, Mumbai reported 566 cases, followed by Pune (201). The recovery rate in the state is 95.37 per cent and the case fatality rate is 2.05 per cent.

Mumbai: Maharashtra reported an all-time high in 2022 and reported 41,434 cases in the last 24 hours, taking the total cases to 68,75,656. 13 more died from the infection while 9,671 patients recovered, and the active cases in the State now stand at 1,73,238.

Meanwhile, Omicron tally in the State also saw a spike with 133 more cases, taking the total number of Omicron cases in the State above 1,000. Of this, Mumbai reported 566 cases, followed by Pune (201). The recovery rate in the state is 95.37 per cent and the case fatality rate is 2.05 per cent.

Mumbai reported 20,318 COVID-19 cases and five deaths and the larger Mumbai division reported 33,134 new cases and six deaths.

The Maharashtra government has announced new restrictions, including night curfew, closing educational institutions and more. The movement of people in groups (five or more) has been banned during the daytime while complete has been imposed during the night with effect from January 10 midnight. Schools and colleges have been shut in Maharashtra till February 15. Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has directed the authorities to take strict action against those who violate COVID appropriate behaviour (CAB).

READ: Mumbai:96% of patients on oxygen beds haven’t taken even 1 jab, says BMC commissioner

The CM appealed to people not to become 'Corona messengers' and endanger the lives of others."We have been fighting against the virus for the last two years and have successfully dealt with two waves of the pandemic by taking cautious steps. The virus, in a different avatar, has been spreading rapidly," the CM said.

"Instead of discussing whether it is mild or serious, we need to take steps to stop it, else our health infrastructure will be under tremendous pressure," he said.

"We don't want to harm livelihood but want to prevent crowding. When restrictions were eased last year, some people continued to follow health protocols but others were complacent and irresponsible. This will not be tolerated," the CM added. Thackeray also appealed to people to get vaccinated at the earliest and said that his government wanted to prevent health services from coming under excessive pressure.

Apart from Mumbai, the Nashik division reported 1,392 new Coronavirus cases, including 846 in Nashik city, Pune division reported 4,749 cases including 2,521 in Pune city, Kolhapur division recorded 489 cases, Aurangabad division 226 cases, Latur division 251 cases and Akola division recorded 212 new cases.

Meanwhile, weekend lockdown will not be imposed in Mumbai, according to ANI.