With a record single-day high of 5,024 fresh COVID-19 cases, Maharashtra’s total tally surged to 1,52,765 on Friday. The toll went up to 7,106 with 175 deaths.
Of these, 91 deaths were reported in the last 48 hours and 84 were from an earlier period, Health Department officials said.
The total number of recovered patients went up to 79,815, with the discharge of 2,362 people. The number of active cases stood at 65,829.
With 1,297 new cases, Mumbai’s tally reached 72,175, including 28,244 active ones. With 44 deaths, the toll reached 4,179.
Pune and Aurangabad districts reported 14 deaths each, pushing their toll to 675 and 226. State Surveillance Officer Pradeep Awate said the State’s recovery rate stood at 52.25% and the case fatality rate at 4.65%.
Pune reported an alarming surge of over 1,000 cases, the district’s highest single-day increase, as the tally soared to 19,031, according to the Health Department. Of these, 8,331 were active cases and 10,025 people had so far been discharged.
Most areas in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) reported a record increase in cases. Thane district reported a record surge of 500 cases for the second consecutive day. The district’s tally soared to 12,261. Navi Mumbai reported 236 cases, its total reaching 6,899.
Kalyan-Dombivli reported 343 cases to take its total to 5,577. Mira-Bhayander and Vasai-Virar, too, witnessed a sharp increase of 116 and 203 cases to take their total to 2,999 and 3,627, respectively.
Mr Thackeray on Friday held a meeting with senior bureaucrats from the MMR and key political leaders. “All municipal corporations in Thane district need to concentrate on track and tracing mechanism adopted by Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation,” he said. He said the three-layer set-up of COVID-19 care centres depending on seriousness of the patient is extremely effective.
Three days ago, the government transferred municipal commissioners from Mira-Bhayander and Thane, while an IAS-level official was posted for Bhiwandi.
Nashik district in north Maharashtra reported another big spike of 157, with Nashik city accounting for 106, while Malegaon — hitherto a hotspot — reporting 27 cases after recording a single-digit surge for the past week. The district’s tally has risen to 3,433, including 1,376 active cases. Nashik has so far recorded 205 deaths.
Jalgaon, another hotspot in north Maharashtra, reported 154 cases, as the total rose to 2,806, including 1,106 active cases.
“Till date, of 8,71,875 laboratory samples, 1,52,765 (17.52%) have tested positive, with nearly 23,000 samples tested across the State [on Friday],” Dr. Awate said. He said 5,58,488 people are in home quarantine and 36,903 in institutional quarantine.
(With inputs from Alok Deshpande)
