Uddhav Thackeray said the lockdown rules will not be relaxed in haste but in a zone-wise manner.
The Maharashtra government will "go ahead with patience and caution" before easing relaxations after May 3 when lockdown ends, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said today.
"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. So, we will go ahead with patience and caution," Mr Thackeray said.
In a live webcast, he said the lockdown rules will not be relaxed in haste but in a zone-wise manner. "It is obvious that Mumbai and it's surroundings are red zones. Pune and it's surrounding areas too have seen spike in COVID-19 cases. Nagpur and Sambhajinagar and other cities are also seeing increasing number of cases daily. Any relaxations in these places are not in our interest at this point. In orange zones, these are districts where there are active cases but no new cases reported we are considering and we will see what relaxations can be given," he said.
Admitting that people were facing hardships due to the lockdown, he said, "But the real wealth of any country is the good health of its people. If people are safe then all is well."
The chief minister said that there is fear about COVID-19 in people's mind, which he termed as "Covid syndrome.
"I want people to not panic about COVID-19. It's only about starting the treatment on time. From few days old babies to 83-year-old people have recovered and gone home. People on ventilators have also recovered well," he said.
The ongoing lockdown, which was imposed to contain coronavirus is scheduled to end on May 3. Maharashtra as the highest number of COVID-19 cases in the country with more than 10,000 cases.
The Chief Minister said that lockdown is working as a "circuit breaker".
"Yes cases are rising but most of the cases are of the contacts. And most are already in quarantine. And fortunately, 75-80 per cent people are asymptomatic of the disease so we are putting them in quarantine," he said.
The Chief Minister also greeted the people on the 60th foundation day of the state.