As Maharashtra is worst hit so far by the Coronavirus pandemic, the state’s Health Minister Rajesh Tope on Saturday, said, the state has witnessed a “big rise” in the number of Coronavirus positive patients with the addition of 11 such cases, and appealed to the people to avoid using public transport to contain the spread adding that “we are in Phase-2 and heading towards Phase-3.

Tope  while talking to the media said that the number of coronavirus positive patients in the state has increased to 63 with 11 new cases.

“Of the 11, eight have travel history abroad and three came in contact with the affected persons,” he said, adding that 10 cases are in Mumbai, while one is in Pune. “A rise from 52 to 63 is big,” he said.

Of the total number of patients, 13 to 14 patients are those who came in contact with the positive patients. “Rest all are import cases,” he added.

On the sudden spurt in the COVID-19 positive cases, Tope  further said, “The spread has been largely because of people who came from outside.”

He appealed to people to avoid going out and maintain social distancing and hygiene. He said, “I appeal to the people not to venture out. They should exercise self discipline by maintaining social distancing and hygiene.”

“If people don’t listen and continue to use public transport unnecessarily, we may have to think otherwise,” he said.

“If there is no reduction in crowd in public transport, a shutdown will have to be put in place. There is also an option of allowing people in public transport after checking their I-cards,” he said.

The suburban trains in Mumbai will function for essential activities, he added.

Tope said that the rise in the number of patients is a major cause of concern and people’s cooperation is needed to fight out the outbreak.

He also appealed to the people to not use air conditioning system for the time being. “WHO and the Centre’s guidelines say that virus survives in cool places or a longer time. “So, not just the government offices, but people should also follow the guidelines of not using air conditioning systems,” he said.

“We have asked for increasing the number of outstation trains, so that those who want to go back to their native places, can do so. This will reduce crowding at railway stations in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) and Pune,” the Health Minister added.

“We are in observation and appeal mode as of now. Even the Centre feels that the public transport in Mumbai needs to be shut down. This was conveyed to (Sharad Pawar) Pawar saheb by Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan,” he said.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and NCP chief Sharad Pawar spoke to the Centre about the current situation in Maharashtra due to Coronavirus pandemic.

The NCP chief talked to Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan over phone about the need to upgrade testing facilities, he said.

“Private labs should be given permission to conduct testing and even medical colleges hospitals can do it. This will reduce the waiting period for reports,” he said.

“Planned surgeries in civic-run and medical college hospitals have been put off. As many as 7,000 quarantine beds have been added in the state,” he said.

Maharashtra has reported the highest number of COVID-19 cases in the country with 63 positive cases, including three foreigners.

India on Saturday reported 258 confirmed cases (including 39 foreigners) of COVID-19 coronavirus, a massive surge from the past few days. With the rise in the number of positive cases, India is moving towards a partial shutdown.

The country has reported four deaths, one each in Punjab, Maharashtra, Delhi, and Karnataka. A fifth death has also been reported from Rajasthan’s Jaipur where an Italian tourist, who had been reportedly cured of COVID-19 infection, passed away earlier today. However, the Health Ministry has not confirmed the same yet.

Meanwhile, the Government has maintained that there is no evidence of community transmission in the country so far.

(With PTI inputs)