At 1,736, Maha logs lowest Covid daily cases in nearly 17 months; 36 die

Maharashtra reported 1,736 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, the lowest daily count in nearly 17 months, and 36 fresh fatalities, taking the infection tally to 65,79,608 and the toll to 1,39,578, a health department official said.

Maharashtra witnessed a drop of more than 550 cases, but recorded an uptick in fatalities as compared to Sunday, when it had reported 2,294 new COVID-19 cases and 28 deaths. At 1,736, the state has recorded the lowest daily count since May 16, 2020, when 1,606 new coronavirus cases were reported, but the tally comes on the back of just over one lakh tests.

Typically, testing drops over the weekend and Maharashtra also saw a shutdown on Monday. The official said 3,033 patients were discharged from hospitals in the last 24 hours, pushing the count of recovered cases to 64,04,320. Maharashtra now has 32,115 coronavirus patients under treatment. The state has 2,38,474 people in home quarantine and another 1,163 in institutional quarantine, he said. The official said Maharashtra's COVID-19 recovery rate stands at 97.34 per cent, while the fatality rate is 2.12 per cent.

The cumulative number of coronavirus tests conducted in the state climbed to 6,03,03,740 after 1,05,567 samples were examined in the last 24 hours, he said. As many as 15 districts and five municipal corporations did not report any new COVID-19 cases, according to the official. Among districts, Mumbai reported the highest new infections at 401, he said. Among the eight regions of Maharashtra, the Mumbai region reported the highest 731 new COVID-19 cases, followed by 482 from the Pune region. The Nashik region reported 359 new cases, Kolhapur 81, Latur 63, Aurangabad 14, while three infections each were registered in Akola and Nagpur regions, he said. According to the official, among the 36 fresh fatalities, the highest 18 fatalities were reported from the Pune region, followed by 10 fatalities from the Nashik region. The Mumbai region reported five deaths, Latur two and the Kolhapur region one. Significantly, Aurangabad, Akola and Nagpur regions did not report any fresh fatalities. The official said Mumbai witnessed 401 new COVID-19 cases and four deaths, while Pune city reported 85 infections, but no fresh fatalities. Among the 32,115 active cases in the state, Pune district has the highest at 8,465, he said. The official said among the 64,04,320 recovered cases across the state, the highest 11,19,884 were from Pune district. Coronavirus figures for Maharashtra are as follows: Total cases 65,79,608; new cases 1,736; total deaths 1,39,578; recoveries 64,04,320; active cases; 32,115, total tests 6,03,03,740.