New Delhi : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday spoke to Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray about the coronavirus disease situation (Covid-19) in the state. According to a statement by the chief minister's office (CMO), PM Modi lauded Maharashtra's efforts in combating the second wave of the pandemic. Thackeray, meanwhile, informed the Prime Minister about the steps taken by the Maharashtra government in view of the potential third wave of the pandemic. "He (Thackeray) also requested for more supply of oxygen to Maharashtra," the CMO statement said.

"The Prime Minister and the Centre have been guiding us in this battle since the beginning and it has been proven beneficial. We are thankful to the Centre for accepting some of our suggestions and demands," the statement added. Earlier on Saturday, Thackeray wrote a letter to the Centre seeking permission to develop a separate application for the vaccination against the coronavirus disease in the state after he received several complaints of frequent glitches in the CoWin platform, according to news agency ANI. Maharashtra, which is the worst-hit state from the pandemic across India, has so far added 4,996,758 cases, 74,413 deaths and 4,265,326 recoveries, according to the state health department’s bulletin. On Friday, the state saw a dip in its daily Covid-19 disease tally after 54,022 cases were reported.

Maharashtra is currently placed under lockdown-like restrictions till May 15. These restrictions were first imposed from April 14 to May 1 banning movement of people, closure of movie halls, auditoriums etc. On April 22, a fresh series of restrictions were introduced by the state government on inter-city and inter-district travel, office attendance, and weddings. It is being observed that adherence to these restrictions has led to an improvement in the overall coronavirus disease (Covid-19) situation in the state. According to the Union health ministry, Maharashtra along with Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Uttarakhand etc is showing early signs of plateauing or decrease in daily cases. On Saturday, PM Modi also spoke to Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin to take stock of the Covid-19 situation in the state. While on Thursday, Modi had spoken to the CMs of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Jharkhand.