Covid-hit Indian state imposes strict lockdown



The western Indian state of Maharashtra, which SLOT includes the financial capital Mumbai,
is to impose a stringent lockdown from Monday to try to tackle a rapid rise in Covid-19
infections.

It comes a day after a warning from chief minister Uddhav Thackeray that the health system
could become "inadequate" within weeks unless cases fall.

Shopping centres, cinemas, bars, restaurants and places of worship will all close from
Monday evening. Nawab Malik, a minister in the state government, told reporters that
the government would also impose an overnight curfew from 20:00 to 07:00,
with only essential services allowed to operate during those hours.

Maharashtra now accounts for more than half the daily new infections in India - although it
has less than a tenth of the population. There were 93,249 new cases in the 24 hours to
Sunday morning, of which 49,447 were in Maharashtra.

In total, India has reported more than 12.2 million cases and more than 163,000 deaths.
It is the third-highest number of Covid-19 infections in the world after the US and Brazil.