 "A Sunday stroll at Mumbai’s Marine Drive")
A day after Maharashtra reported
over 4,000 COVID-19 cases, highest single-day tally in more than a month, the daily count on Monday fell but remained above the 3,000-mark for the sixth straight day as the state government warned of "harsh decisions" after the recent spike.
On Monday, the number of daily cases dipped to 3,365 in Maharashtra, where 4,092 infections, the highest single-day rise since the first week of January, were reported on Sunday.
Also, 23 more patients succumbed to the infection, while over 3,100 people recovered from the infection.
The state has registered 20,67,643 positive cases till now, an official statement said.
Maharashtra reported 2,216 new cases on February 8 and 2,515 a day later.
On February 10, the number of daily cases surged to 3,451 and the single-day rise has been above the 3,000-mark since then.
Apart from Mumbai, Nagpur and Amravati cities in the Vidarbha region reported over 400 new COVID-19 patients in a day on Monday.
Describing as "alarming" the recent rise in fresh COVID-19 cases in some districts of Maharashtra, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Monday warned of taking some "harsh decisions" and asked people to be prepared.
Speaking to reporters in Aurangabad, Pawar expressed displeasure over people not following the pandemic-appropriate behaviour and violating guidelines.
"Harsh decisions can be taken and people should remain prepared. If certain decisions are not taken in time then we will have to pay a heavy cost later," he added.
Notably, a central team which visited parts of Maharashtra earlier this month, had in a meeting with Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on February 8 noted that rural areas of Vidarbha -- particularly in Amravati, Akola, Yavatmal and Bhandara districts -- reported higher positivity rate.
On the other hand, the number of patients discharged from hospitals across the state on Monday stood at 3,105, that is, more than double of those who headed for homes post recovery a day earlier.
A total of 1,355 patients were discharged on Sunday.
The number of recovered persons in the state stood at 19,78,708, the government said.
The number of active cases in the state increased slightly to 36,201 on Monday from 35,965 a day earlier.
According to the Maharashtra government, Palghar, located adjoining Mumbai, was the only district in the state which did not report a single COVID-19 case on Monday.
With 23 new deaths reported on Monday, the state's fatality count rose to 51,552, the government said.
The health department said of the 23 deaths, 7 were reported during the past 48 hours, while 3 were from the last week. The remaining 13 deaths were from the period before last week.
Mumbai city continued to report the highest single- daycasesin the state with a spike of 493 on Monday, while Nagpur city saw a jump of 415cases.
Amravati city in Vidarbha saw a rise of 405 cases on Monday.
Pune city in Western Maharashtra and Buldhana district in the Vidarbha region also reported three-digit rise in daily cases of 202 and 173, respectively.
Raigad district in the Konkan region reported deaths of 11 persons, highest in the state on Monday, due to the disease.
In Mumbai and Marathwadas Aurangabad city, three and two individuals died due to COVID-19, respectively.
Out of the total 3,365 newcases, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), accounted for 880.
With this, the total number of cases reported in the MMR -- which includes Mumbai and its satellite towns -- till now has increased to 7,05,441. The region has reported 19,701 deaths till now.
The countrys financial capital alone has witnessed 3,14,569 casesand 11,422 deaths till now.
The Akola division -- which covers Amravati, Yavatmal, Buldhana and Washim districts, besides Akola -- in Vidarbha reported a rise of 837 new cases.
The states recovery rate is 95.7 per cent, while the fatality rate is 2.49 per cent, the department said.
Currently, 1,74,704 people are in home quarantine and 1,714 in institutional quarantine in the state, it said.
With 37,418 new tests on Monday, the number of samples tested so far in the state increased to 1,53,59,026, the government said.
Maharashtra's COVID-19 tally is as follows: Positivecases: 20,67,643; newcases3,365; deaths: 51,522; discharged 19,78,708; activecases: 36,201; people tested so far: 1,53,59,026.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
