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Maharashtra restricts intra-state travel

Mumbai: Rural Maharashtra has reported a sharp jump in Covid-19 cases in the past two weeks, which officials have blamed on the state’s decision to allow inter-district travel. Districts such as Osmanabad, Satara, Sangli and Pune Rural have witnessed the spike, said officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

Most of the new patients in these districts are people who have returned from cities like Mumbai, Thane, Pune and Nagpur.

The Maharashtra government has now decided to restrict inter-district travel except for emergency or medical reasons. Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray gave verbal instructions on this during a video-conference with district collectors on Wednesday, the officials said.

Several district collectors pointed out during the videoconference that unhindered travel from one district to another and from hot spots like Mumbai, Thane, Navi Mumbai, Pune, Aurangabad and Nagpur to villages had led to an increase in cases in their districts, they said.

The Maharashtra government approved inter-district travel from May 11and officials said within a few days, a definite spike in cases was seen in rural areas. Sangli, for instance, had reported 42 Covid-19 cases till May 17; it has now reached 101. In Osmanabad, the number has increased to 54 from seven and in Beed, to 41 from three. Ratnagiri now has 204 cases, compared with 95 less than two weeks ago.

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