Deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar will hold a meeting with officials from district administration and Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) on Friday, to review the Covid situation in Pune.

With the number of new Covid cases refusing to slow down, Pawar will interact with officials, along with public representatives, to take a call on additional curbs in the city and rural parts of the district.

Pawar, who is also guardian minister of Pune district, along with health minister Rajesh Tope, on Thursday evening, met chief minister Uddhav Thackeray at his official residence “Varsha”, to discuss the situation in Pune and other parts of Maharashtra, and possible curbs.

“I am meeting public representatives and officials in Pune tomorrow to review the Covid situation there. We all know that cases are continuously rising in Pune. However, there is difference of opinion among public representatives on a complete lockdown,” said Pawar in Mumbai on Thursday afternoon.

Earlier this week, Tope, during his visit to Pune, warned if the Covid tally doesn’t stop rising, then as a last resort the city could be locked down. Multiple districts in Maharashtra, including Nagpur, Amravati, Beed and Nanded have faced a lockdown due to a sharp spike in numbers during second week of March.

On Wednesday, Pune district reported a major spike with 6,754 fresh Covid positive cases, the highest tally since the beginning of pandemic last year. With the daily caseload crossing the 5000-mark over the past one week, Pune is reporting the highest number of cases across country, with daily positivity rate above 25 per cent.

When asked about possibility of lockdown, Pune Mayor Murlidhar Mohol resisted the idea saying it is not a reasonable option when there are alternatives.

“The cases are increasing, but most of the patients are in home isolation. We are working on increasing bed capacity. TCS-Prayas report had also indicated that a lockdown is not the solution. We can implement current restrictions with more efficiency. If need be more restrictions could be imposed. We are working on increasing the health infrastructure. We are also working on increasing vaccination. A complete lockdown is not appropriate. but we can think of a partial lockdown,” Mohol said.

Earlier, on Wednesday, when asked about the possibility of the lockdown in Pune, district collector Rajesh Deshmukh had said that important issues would be discussed in the Covid review meeting on Friday.

“The Covid review meeting is scheduled on Friday. Elected representatives and officials will be present at the meeting. We will take a review of the Covid situation and will discuss it,” Rajesh Deshmukh had said.

(With inputs from agencies)