On Sunday, Maharashtra crossed a grim milestone of recording more than 2.1 million cases of Covid19, which coincided with a spike in cases and lockdown in a few districts, since the pandemic broke out in the state in March 2020. The state recorded 6,971 new Covid-19 infections, the highest one-day spike in last 121 days since October 23, when the state clocked 7,347 cases. The state’s Covid case tally reached 21,00,884, while the toll was pushed to 51,799 with 35 new deaths.

Mumbai which has also recorded a steady increase in cases for the past few days, reported 921 new infections on Sunday, taking the count to 319,128.

The spike has forced many districts and cities such as Amravati, Akola, Yavatmal, Pune, Nashik, Parbhani to impose stricter curbs on movement of the people. Amravati city will be placed under lockdown for a week starting Monday, 8pm, guardian minister Yashomati Thakur, said on Sunday. Only essential services will be allowed to function during the lockdown. This will be the first lockdown after the state initiated Mission Begin Again or unlocking activities.

A few other districts in Vidarbha and other parts of the state have imposed other curbs, including night curfew, weekend lockdown, announced closure of the schools and colleges, and started penalizing people, establishments for not following Covid-19 protocol.

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Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray issued an ultimatum to people, warning them of a lockdown if Covid-19-protocol was not followed properly. “It all depends on you, whether you want a lockdown or you are ready to follow the norms to avoid it. The lockdown this time will be more difficult to follow. It will be known only after a week or two if we are facing the second wave of pandemic,” he said. He also announced a ban on social, religious, political gatherings and protests that attract crowding for the next few weeks.

The number of cases in Amravati has been increasing rapidly over the past few days. On Saturday, Amravati (both district and city) reported 1,055 cases, while on Sunday, 926 cases were reported in the district. Nashik guardian minister Chhagan Bhujbal on Sunday announced that night curfew will be imposed in the city between 11pm and 5am, however, essential services do not come under the curb.