May Extend COVID-19 Lockdown Post April 30, Mumbai to be Under Red Zone, Says Health Min Rajesh Tope

Mumbai: Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Thane, Palghar, and Pune will fall under the "red zone" as they have reported 91 per cent of the total 1,652 positive cases in Maharashtra so far, Health Minister Rajesh Tope said on Saturday after Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray extended the lockdown period in the state till April 30. Tope also said that the lockdown could be extended even beyond April 30 if people fail to follow the social distancing norms.

Tope was speaking to reporters after attending the meeting of chief ministers and health ministers of states with Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Mumbai through video conferencing. Speaking about the meeting, Tope said the prime minister spoke about dividing all the districts in the country in red, orange and green zones on the basis of the number of coronavirus positive cases.

The red zones will include districts which have reported more than 15 COVID-19 cases, while the orange zones will cover the areas where 15 or less number of cases have been reported, the minister said.

The green zones will cover the districts which have reported 0 or one case, Tope said, adding that the detailed guidelines with regard to such zones will be issued in a day or two. "Though we have extended the lockdown (in Maharashtra), we will get guidelines on whether we can allow some activities by keeping boundaries of the districts which fall in the green zones sealed," he said.

Maharashtra has become a third state after Odisha and Punjab to extend the lockdown period till April 30. The decision was announced by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray after attending the meeting with the PM. Tope further said that Mumbai, Thane, Palghar, Navi Mumbai and Pune have reported 91 per cent of the state's 1652 positive cases so far and will fall under the red zone and the lockdown will remain there.

He said the prime minister also talked about the concept of "lock-in" during the meeting under which the industries that will observe 100 per cent discipline and ensure social distancing by their workers may be allowed to operate.

"However, it is the prime minister who will talk about it in detail in his address to the nation," Tope said. "During the conference, the prime minister praised rural areas where lockdown has been observed strictly. In cities, I will urge people to observe the lockdown strictly," Tope said.

In view of the extended lockdown in Maharashtra, the health minister urged people to observe discipline in a stricter manner. "The CM has announced that the lockdown will remain in force for 15 another days (beyond April 14). He has stressed that the lockdown will be there for minimum 15 days. So, one thing has to be kept in mind that we must observe discipline now.

"Or else, there will be no other alternative but to extend it (further)," he added. The minister further said that Thackeray demanded the prime minister to allow Maharashtra to conduct "pool testing" in which swabs of a group of people will be tested at a time.

In case the samples test positive, only then individual tests will be carried out to ascertain the patient. "It will save our time and testing kits," the minister said, adding that Maharashtra has so far conducted 33,000 individual tests.

During the meeting, Thackeray demanded that the Centre provide medical equipment assured for fighting the coronavirus disease to Maharashtra, Tope said, adding that the PM responded positively to the demand. He said the PM asked all the chief ministers to download the Aarogya Setu mobile phone application.

The application was launched by the Centre on April 2. Meanwhile, Tope dismissed reports of shortage of PPE kits in the state. "We have 40,000 PPE kits and 3.50 lakh masks available in the state," he added.

Tope further informed that of the total number of COVID-19 patients in the state, 70 per cent are "asymptomatic", 25 per cent "mild symptomatic" while the remaining 5 per cent are "critical". He said the cumulative daily growth (of number of COVID-19 patients) is approximately 13 per cent, while the death rate is 5.5 per cent.

Tope said the government will categorise hospitals in three ways: COVID Care Centres (CCC) in which there will be 100 per cent asymptomatic patients will be treated and COVID Health Centres which will treat persons with mild symptoms and COVID Hospitals where severe and critical individuals will be admitted. "A big hospital like Seven Hills (in Mumbai) can treat patients of all three categories, he added.