Pawar, Dy CM, Tope, Deshmukh review Pune COVID-19 situation

NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, state health minister Rajesh Tope and state home minister Anil Deshmukh on Friday reviewed the COVID-19 situation in Pune district at a meeting in the Council Hall here.

NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, state health minister Rajesh Tope and state home minister Anil Deshmukh on Friday reviewed the COVID-19 situation in Pune district at a meeting in the Council Hall here. The NCP chief asked officials to ramp up testing for the infection while the deputy CM directed district, civic and police officials to work in coordination to contain the outbreak.

The NCP chief asked officials to regularly review the situation in containment zones and to also ensure private hospitals do not overcharge patients. Ajit Pawar, also state finance minister, said he would talk to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to mitigate the financial burden on Pune Municipal Corporation due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Tope asked the Pune district and civic administrations to implement the "Mumbai pattern" to fight the outbreak. He said after antigen tests, the state government had decided to conduct antibodies tests, which will help detect people with the infection in containment zones.

Home Minister Anil Deshmukh announced that families of police personnel who died of COVID-19 can stay in official quarters till the time the deceased would have retired in the normal process. He also said there was an increase in cyber crimes during the lockdown, and experts had been brought in to curb the menace.

The leaders also visited the PMC's "war room" set up to coordinate coronavirus combat efforts..