Coronavirus: Maharashtra recorded 31,643 cases in the last 24 hours.
With Maharashtra witnessing a surge in coronavirus cases over the last few weeks, businessman Anand Mahindra on Monday said "the people a lockdown hurts most are the poor, migrant workers and small businesses" as he gave a word of advice to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.
Mr Thackeray, on Sunday, had hinted at re-imposition of lockdown in the state to control the spread of virus. He asked officials to prepare a plan to enforce a lockdown, saying people were not following safety rules. The decision was taken at a meeting attended by Mr Thackeray, Health Minister Rajesh Tope, Chief Secretary Sitaram Kunte, doctors of the COVID-19 task force and other officials, an official statement said.
In a tweet, Mr Mahindra on Monday said: "The problem, @OfficeofUT ji, is that the people a lockdown hurts most are the poor, migrant workers & small businesses. The original lockdowns were essentially to buy time to build up hospital/health infrastructure. Let's focus on resurrecting that & on avoiding mortality."
It's been a year since India enforced one of the world's harshest lockdowns to ensure Covid protocols are strictly followed. Thousands of migrants in the cities were left jobless and helpless; they started travelling to their villages on foot and many of them died.
As India sees a rise in cases once again, restrictions have returned in many parts of the country. Maharashtra, which has logged the highest number of cases in the country since the start of the pandemic, has recorded the biggest surge in daily cases over the last few days. The state has imposed a night curfew for now.
The state's Covid tally surged to 27,45,518 total infections with 31,643 infections recorded on Monday.