Mumbai, April 9: Maharashtra's Relief and Rehabilitation Minister Vijay Wadettiwar on Friday said the state government would soon impose some restrictions on local train services in Mumbai and neighbouring cities in view of the rising COVID-19 cases. Underlining that now children and young people are also testing positive for coronavirus, Vijay Wadettiwar said the government has started drawing up a plan to restrict use of local trains. Maharashtra Heading Towards Lockdown, Says Health Minister Rajesh Tope Amid COVID-19 Spike.

"We have started to reschedule the local train timetable. There should be some restrictions and staggered time to travel in local for various sectors such as workers working in restaurants, medical staff, etc. like the last time," Wadettiwar told a Marathi news channel. The minister also said the state government must impose complete lockdown for three weeks, instead of weekend lockdown, to curb COVID-19 cases.

He said he will pitch for a complete lockdown in Maharashtra for three weeks before Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. "As a relief and rehabilitation minister, I will raise the demand before CM Uddhav Thackeray to impose complete lockdown for at least three weeks instead of weekend lockdown, considering the surge in COVID positive cases," Wadettiwar said.

Maharashtra is one of the 12 states that are displaying an upward trajectory in daily new COVID-19 cases, according to the country's Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The state added 56,286 new COVID-19 patients yesterday, taking up the tally to 32,29,547. Fatalities shot up to 376 from 322 a day earlier, and the toll increased to 57,028.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 09, 2021 04:06 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).