Maharashtra government announces weekend lockdown, night curfew amid COVID-19 spike

Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray's office recently tweeted: "The Government will never fall short when it comes to health infrastructure and the well-being of its people. I am sure that you will co-operate like you did last year. Let us together prepare to fight and win the battle that lies ahead. Jai Hind, Jai Maharashtra!"

The new rules will come to effect from Monday.

During the period, malls, restaurants and bars will be closed while home delivery and essential services will remain operational.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is chairing a high-level meeting on Sunday to review the recent upsurge in Covid-19 cases as well as the vaccination drive across the country.

All senior officers, including the Cabinet Secretary, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, the Health Secretary are participating in the meeting, said reports.

Meanwhile, India recorded a whopping 93,249 fresh Covid-19 infections in the last 24 hours, taking the country's overall tally to over 1.24 crore.

This is the highest single-day spike since September 19, when 93,337 cases were recorded.

During this period, 513 deaths were recorded taking the fatality toll to 1,64,623.

As per the Union Health Ministry data, 1,16,29,289 people have recovered so far while the active cases stand at 6,91,597.