‘Lockdown’ Maharashtra could have stricter curbs as state struggles to ramp up vaccinations

The Uddhav Thackeray government has tightened restrictions on movement of people in Maharashtra from 8 pm Thursday, including on inter- and intra-district travel.

A view of deserted Marine Drive after curfew-like restrictions were imposed across Maharashtra, in Mumbai on 20 April.| Photo: ANI

Mumbai: Struggling with a shortage of remdesivir and oxygen for Covid-19 patients, and finding it difficult to ramp up vaccinations to contain the pandemic, the Maharashtra government has not only tightened its lockdown-like restrictions, but is also considering even stricter curbs in the next eight days.

While the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government has refrained from using the word ‘lockdown’ in its official circular, there will be stricter restrictions on the movement of people from 8 pm Thursday.

Inter-district travel by private transport will be allowed only for emergency purposes, there will be a more stringent clampdown on non-essential intra-district travel, government offices will function at 15 per cent capacity and only authorised medical personnel and government employees will be allowed to board Mumbai’s local trains.

Weddings too, will have to be held in a span of two hours with a maximum attendance of 25 people. The rules will be in place till 1 May.

On Thursday, Health Minister Rajesh Tope told reporters in Mumbai, “We discussed the lockdown with the CM in great detail. He said that a lockdown is necessary, but for a few days we will have to see. We have tightened inter-district movement. Even intra-district, people can travel only for emergency purposes such as going to the hospital or if someone has died.”

He said, “I spoke to the CM yesterday. He told me, various measures such as the curbs on weddings, in the next eight days we will be able to make it stricter.”

Limitations to scaling up vaccinations

As Covid cases spiked at the beginning of the second wave, the MVA government’s first response was to increase the pace of vaccinations to four lakh doses a day and eventually six lakh instead of directly imposing a lockdown.

Its ambitions, however, were cut short due to a shortage of vaccines and a Centre-state tussle over the same.

As of 20 April, the Maharashtra government has administered Covid vaccines to 1.29 crore people, and has been giving out about three lakh doses a day, with several centres across the state shut due to a shortage of doses.

In Mumbai, for the past four days, over 30 vaccination centres have been shut.

On Monday, the Uddhav Thackeray government welcomed the Centre’s decision to allow all above 18 years to get the Covid vaccine and also permit states to procure the vaccine stock directly from manufacturers.

Over 60 per cent of Maharashtra’s population is over 18 years and the state government now has a target of inoculating 8.5 crore people beginning 1 May. However, the state government may not be immediately able to increase the pace of its vaccinations.

Tope said, “CM Uddhav Thackeray spoke to Serum Institute’s Adar Poonawalla yesterday and he said that his whole production is booked with the Centre till 24 May. We won’t be able to buy the stock we want to for the next whole month.”

He added, “The CM and senior officials are speaking with Bharat Biotech too, but the company has not fixed its rates for state governments yet… Foreign vaccines such as Sputnik and Moderna are extremely expensive, but we will still negotiate with them for bulk purchases.”

Tope said, with regards to oxygen, he is “ready to beg and touch people’s feet”, but the distribution of oxygen is with the Centre for which it should create a green corridor.

Meanwhile, the state government is considering plans of having oxygen bottling plants at thermal power stations, steel plants and plastics manufacturing units among others.

A senior state government official said on condition of anonymity, “With hospital beds fully occupied, and there being a severe shortage of drugs, oxygen, etc, the state government was left with no option but to restrict people-to-people contact before things get out of hand.”

Maharashtra’s lockdown story

Maharashtra has been one of the states’ worst affected by the second wave of the Covid pandemic, reporting about 60,000 new cases every day. On 21 April, Maharashtra recorded 67,468 new cases. The state has a cumulative caseload of 40.2 lakh Covid cases with 61,911 deaths.

The Maharashtra government first imposed lockdown-like restrictions on 14 April till the end of the month to contain the spread of the virus. However, the state government granted several relaxations, such as keeping district borders open and allowing all public transport to ply.

Despite the lockdown, many people were roaming freely on the roads and there were also reports of crowding at market places.

In Mumbai, the police introduced a colour code sticker system dividing all those exempt from the lockdown restrictions into three categories of essential travel — red, green, and yellow. Citizens were advised to either print their own stickers or collect them from checkpoints according to their category of travel.

Similarly, with a large number of people stepping out of their homes citing grocery shopping, the government restricted grocery shops across the state to adhere to a 7-11 am timing, while allowing deliveries all day long.

However, the curbs, projected by the Thackeray government as Mission ‘Break The Chain’ did not translate into lower cases in the following days.

In the seven days up to the lockdown announcement, which was from 8 to 14 April, Maharashtra on an average reported 57,842 new Covid cases daily.

This number jumped to 64,238 in the next seven days from 15-21 April, accompanied with a severe shortage of Covid beds, oxygen for Covid positive patients and remdesivir, an antiviral drug repurposed for Covid treatment. This prompted the state government to revise its lockdown measures and make them stricter.

(Edited by Amit Upadhyaya)