Maharashtra is one of the worst-affected states in India.
Maharashtra’s coronavirus case tally rose to 1,80,298 on Wednesday with addition of 5,537 new patients while the death toll mounted by 198 to 8,053, state health department said.
The number of coronavirus positive patients in Palghar, a predominantly tribal district of Maharashtra, crossed the 5,000-mark on Wednesday with the addition of 257 cases, PTI reported. The case count in the district now stands at 5,239, the state department said in a release.
Maharashtra Coronavirus Live Updates
Meanwhile, the Pune Municipal Corporation has decided to conduct rapid antigen detection tests for diagnosis of Covid-19 after a couple of days, a top official told PTI. He said the move will decrease burden on the National Institute of Virology (NIV) and other laboratories.
Delhi Coronavirus Live Updates
Maharashtra, which has the maximum number of coronavirus cases in the country, has extended the lockdown till July 31. According to the latest guidelines issued on Monday, shopping, outdoor exercise and movement for all other non-essential activities have to be limited to neighbourhood areas. No such curbs were announced when such activities were first permitted from June 5 as part of the ‘Mission Begin Again’ initiative.
Meanwhile, India recorded 507 deaths and 18,653 coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, pushing the total number of infections to 5,85,493, including 17,400 deaths.
Sanitisation work at Turbhe Naka slum area in Navi Mumbai (Express photo by Narendra Vaskar)
In view of rising number of coronavirus patients, the Maharashtra government on Wednesday decided to requisition private ambulances and other vehicles which will be used to ferry patients to hospitals.
The decision was also taken following complaints that private ambulances are charging exorbitant rates for providing services, said an official release here.
A Government Resolution (GR) or order issued by the Health Department said district administrations will take over private ambulances and other on-hire private vehicles.
As the number of COVID-19 patients is on rise, there is a need for more ambulances, the release said.
Private vehicles on hire, which can be used as ambulances with minor modification, will be requisitioned alongwith their drivers, the release said. (PTI)
Maharashtra's COVID-19 tally rose to 1,80,298 on Wednesday with the addition of 5,537 cases, the state health department said. The death toll due to the virus reached 8,053 with 198 more people succumbing to the infection, it said.
As many as 2,243 patients were discharged post-recovery on Wednesday, which took the number of recovered persons to 93,154 in the state, it added.
So far, 9,92,723 people have been tested across the state and the number of active cases is 79,091, the health department said in a statement.
As many as 4,938 police personnel in Maharashtra have tested positive for coronavirus so far and 60 of them have succumbed to the viral infection, Home Minister Anil Deshmukh said on Wednesday. He said 38 of the 60 deceased were from the Mumbai Police force.
As many as 3,813 of the 4,938 infected police personnel have recovered from COVID-19 disease while over 1,000 others are currently under treatment, the home minister said in a statement.
The number of the offences registered under section 188 (Disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) has risen to 1,39,702 since the lockdown came into force, it said.
A total of 29,298 arrests were made for violation of the lockdown norms and 85,780 vehicles impounded. There have been 290 instances of assaults on policemen and 860 arrests were made, Deshmukh said. (PTI)
The number of coronavirus positive patients in Palghar, a predominantly tribal district of Maharashtra, crossed the 5,000-mark on Wednesday with the addition of 257 cases, the administration said.
The case count in the district now stands at 5,239, it said in a release.
So far, 134 people have succumbed to the infection, of whom three died in the last 24 hours, the administration said.
Areas under the Vasai Virar City Municipal Corporation (VVCMC) alone accounted for 4,137 positive cases, while the rural parts of the district recorded 1,102 cases, it said. (PTI)
As many as 18 fresh cases of COVID-19 have been detected in rural areas of Maharashtra's Nashik district, taking the tally to 4,270 in the region, a health official said on Wednesday.
Swab reports of 18 suspected patients came out positive for the infection late on Tuesday night, the official said.
Of the 4,270 coronavirus cases in the district, Nashik city accounts for 2,180, followed by Malegaon at 1,034, while 932 were reported from other parts, a release here stated.
At least 124 patients from outside the district had also received treatment in Nashik, it was stated. (PTI)
The Bombay High Court has directed the Maharashtra government to clarify whether it was ensuring that all coronavirus-related biomedical waste generated in the state was being disposed of in a safe manner.
A bench led by Chief Justice Dipankar Datta issued notices to the Maharashtra government, the Kalyan Dombivali Municipal Corporation (KDMC) in Thane district, and the state pollution control board on Tuesday.
The court said this was an "important issue", and asked the authorities to respond to a Public Interest Litigation which claimed that untreated COVID-19 biomedical waste generated by hospitals, pathology labs was being dumped at the Aadharwadi dumping ground in Kalyan, in violation of all the central waste disposal guidelines. (PTI)
The Pune civic body in Maharashtra has decided to conduct rapid antigen detection tests for diagnosis of COVID-19 after a couple of days, a top official said on Wednesday. He said the move will decrease burden on the National Institute of Virology (NIV) and other laboratories.
The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has received one lakh rapid antigen testing kits, he said.
"We had placed an order of antigen rapid testing kits and received one lakh such kits. We will start conducting this test in the next couple of days after providing hands-on training to our staff posted in swab collection centres in the city," said PMC commissioner Shekhar Gaikwad.
He said the accuracy rate of the rapid antigen test is 90 per cent which gives out results within 30 minutes.
"The test is cost-effective one and there is no need for laboratory examination of the samples," Gaikwad said. (PTI)
The Covid-19 cases in Maharashtra's Thane district have nearly doubled in the last 15 days and risen considerably since May 1, a data released by the authorities revealed.
According to a health bulletin, Thane district, which had detected just 1,011 coronavirus cases till May 1, has recorded 33,324 infections till Tuesday night.
In the last 15 days alone, the cases in the district have nearly doubled from 17,008 to 33,324, it stated. The deaths too have seen a rise from 29 casualties till May 1 to 1,064 so far, the data stated. (PTI)
As many as 60 Maharashtra Police personnel, including 38 from Mumbai Police, have died of COVID-19 since the outbreak of the disease. (PTI)
Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray performs 'mahapooja' of Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur on Ashadhi Ekadashi, prays for miracle to overcome coronavirus crisis.
Section-144 has been imposed in Mumbai by Commissioner of Police Pranaya Ashok, prohibiting any presence or movement of one or more persons in public places or gathering of any sort anywhere, including religious places subject to certain conditions, in view of COVID-19.
Pune police on Tuesday registered a case of externment violation against a person with a criminal record, after his breach of order was detected by newly-launched application ExTra, a spin-off of the geolocation-based tool used for tracking home- quarantined persons.
The facial recognition and geolocation-based application ExTra (Externees monitoring and Tracking system) is a spin-off of the Home Quarantine Tracking System (HQTS), used initially by Pune Police and Maharashtra Police to monitor people who had been asked to remain in home quarantine. Pune City police had operationalised ExTra in the second week of June.
With India’s Coronavirus (Covid-19) infections’ tally climbing to 5.66 lakh on Tuesday, general insurers have received 28,000 claims for Rs 445 crore till Monday. In fact, claims have doubled in a week with most claims coming from Maharashtra and Delhi, insurance officials said. According to officials in the non-life industry, average claims for Coronavirus is around Rs 2-2.5 lakh in urban areas and around Rs 50,000-75,000 in semi urban or rural areas. In many cases, where the condition of patient is severe and have been admitted in an intensive care unit (ICU) the claims are in the range of Rs 6-8 lakh.
Along with the rapid rise of Covid-19 cases in the last fortnight, the claims on account of Covid-19 have also gone up in equal proportion in the country, they said. “Insurance claims have practically doubled during the week,” said industry sources. Read More
EVEN AS more police personnel from Maharashtra test positive for coronavirus disease (Covid-19), state Home Minister Anil Deshmukh on Tuesday said experts were being consulted to formulate a response to the rising number of positive cases and deaths in the force. With the addition of 118 cases in the last 24 hours, the total number of positive cases in Maharashtra Police force has reached 4,861, as per data shared by the state police headquarters on Tuesday.
Of these, 3,699 cops have recovered and 59 have succumbed to the infection. As many as 2,779 personnel are from Mumbai Police. Of them, 2,127 have recovered and 38 have died. Out of the total recovered personnel in Mumbai Police, 1,300 have reported back to work. Close to 6,000 police personnel across the state are either in home or institutional quarantine as of Tuesday.
Mumbai's Lalbaughcha Raja Ganeshotsav Mandal has decided not to hold Ganeshotsav this time in wake of the coronavirus pandemic. A blood and plasma donation camp will be set up in its place, said Lalbaughcha Raja Ganeshotsav Mandal according to news agency ANI.
"Instead of celebrating Ganeshotsav in a grand way, Labaughcha Raja Mandal will donate the amount to CM's Relief Fund. We will also felicitate families of martyrs who have lost their lives at LOC & LAC, " Sudhir Salvi, Secretary of Lalbaugcha Raja Ganeshotsav Mandal, said
Case registered against 6 police constables for not reporting to duty since last 2 months despite being served notice: Mumbai Police (ANI)
Maintaining that the Maharashtra government does not have the power to issue an order barring private unaided schools from hiking fees for six weeks for the academic year 2020-21 in wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Bombay High Court has said that it was mindful of the difficulties faced by the parents and that the schools may consider allowing them to pay the fees online and in reasonable installments.
The HC on June 26 had stayed for six weeks a May 8 state government resolution (GR) that had barred private schools from hiking fees. The GR had also directed the schools not to collect yearly one-time fees for academic years 2019-20 and 2020-21 and give parents an option to deposit the same on a monthly or quarterly basis.
Aggrieved by the decision, educational institutions across the state had approached the HC.
Meanwhile, India recorded 507 deaths and 18,653 coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, pushing the total number of infections to 5,85,493, including 17,400 deaths, 2,20,114 active cases, 3,47,979 recoveries, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
Areas with poor civic facilities are more susceptible to the proliferation of Covid-19 cases, a study conducted by NGO Praja Foundation has found. The Foundation’s annual report on the status of civic issues in Mumbai, released Tuesday, states the top five administrative wards in Mumbai — L (Kurla), S (Bhandup), K west (Andheri), M-east (Govandi, Mankhurd) and R south (Kandivali) — with the maximum concentration of containment zones, reported the most complaints related to water shortage, drain overflowing, and unattended garbage.
According to the data compiled by the BMC’s centralised complaint registration system last year, 1,420 complaints on water shortage, of the total 3,084 recorded across the city, were registered from these five wards, the report states.
The Mira Bhayander Municipal Corporation (MBMC) and the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) will observe a total lockdown for 10 daysbeginning July 1 and 2, respectively, in view of the rising number of Covid-19 cases in these urban centres.
On June 3 when lockdown rules were eased in Maharashtra, TMC had reported 4,019 cases and 84 deaths. Since then, while the number of cases has increased by 139 per cent to 9,644, fatalities have jumped by 275 per cent to 315.
Mira Bhayander, meanwhile, has registered a 385 per cent jump in the number of Covid-19 cases during the same period – from 699 to 3,396 cases. Its fatality rate has increased by 861 per cent – from 13 to 125 deaths during the same period.
Maharashtra recorded 4,878 Covid-19 cases on Monday taking its tally to 1,74,761. Of them about 90,911 people have recovered from the infection. Mumbai recorded 893 new Covid-19 cases touching 77,658 mark. At least 93 people succumbed to the infection in Mumbai. The city has so far recorded 4,556 Covid-19 deaths. Read More
A day after 16,291 vehicles were seized across the city for violation of lockdown orders, police said the crackdown seemed to have had the desired effect as fewer vehicles plied on the city roads Tuesday.
Since Sunday, the Mumbai police had ramped up bandobast across the city after Mumbaikars were asked not to travel beyond a 2-km radius from their homes in their vehicles unless it was for some essential work. Read More
To reduce Covid-19 deaths in Mumbai hospitals, the BMC on Tuesday released a nine-point protocol that will be followed under the new initiative ‘Save Lives Strategy’. BMC noted that many deaths in hospitals occur as patients remove oxygen to go to the toilet, especially between 1 am and 5 am.
Under the new protocol, it will now be mandatory for every bed to be provided with a bed-pan. It will also be mandatory for junior and senior doctors to conduct meetings twice a day for updates on patients, either through video conference or telephonic conversation. Read More
Maharashtra's coronavirus case tally rose to 1,74,761 on Tuesday with 4,878 new patients coming to light, said the state health department.
Death toll due to the pandemic in the state reached 7,855 with 245 patients succumbing to the infection, it said. 1,951 coronavirus patients were discharged upon recovery during the day, taking the number of recovered patients in the state to 90,911.
There are 75,995 active cases in Maharashtra now. 9,66,723 people have been tested.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday welcomed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's announcement to extend the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) by five months till November end.
The extension of the PMGKAY, a programme to provide free ration for over 80 crore people, mostly poor, was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his televised address to the nation in the afternoon.
Lockdown will be implemented in a stricter manner in Nashik, where "curfew-like situation" will prevail between 7 pm and 5 am to contain the spread of COVID-19, Maharashtra Minister Chhagan Bhujbal said on Tuesday. The Uddhav Thackeray-led government on Monday had extended the lockdown till July 31 without providing any further relaxations, as COVID cases continued to mount in the state.
As many as 361 inmates have so far tested positive across 11 prisons of Maharashtra, of which 106 are active as per data updated till Monday night. As many as 94 prison staff have also tested positive. Four deaths have also been reported.
Highest number inmates have been found in Mumbai Central Jail till now where 181 have till now tested positive of which 30 are active cases. The latest addition to COVID cases in prison was in Akola District Prison where a total of 68 inmates tested positive over the last one week. All 68 are currently under treatment.
The COVID-19 situation in Maharashtra's Aurangabad city will be reviewed in the next 10 days and if the condition worsens, the administration will consider imposing a curfew, an official said on Tuesday.
"The administration will not immediately impose a curfew in Aurangabad city. We will review the situation for the next 10 days and if things worsen, we may consider imposing a full or partial curfew," the collector said.
Considering the rise in COVID-19 cases, the collector of Maharashtra's Palghar district has announced a complete lockdown in Jawhar town till July 8, news agency PTI reported on Tuesday.
As per a release from the town's civic body, collector Kailas Shinde has imposed section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPc) prohibiting assembly of five or more people till July 8. Essentials will be made available between 8 am and 11 am, while banks and medical shops will have to adopt a token system, the release stated.
There was confusion and chaos on Mumbai’s arterial roads on Monday, as the police deployed 137 nakabandi points across the city to implement its new rule allowing only office-goers and those facing medical emergency to travel beyond a 2-km radius from their homes in their vehicles. By late evening, however, the “2-km barrier” rule had made way to “neighbourhood area limits”.
A senior police officer said that hardly any offences were made out against those violating the 2-km rule “as it would be difficult to trace the distance in each case”. The officer added that the focus was more on those violating lockdown restrictions in place, like people riding pillion on bikes or four-wheelers carrying more than three persons.
A 139 per cent increase in Covid-19 cases since lockdown rules were eased in the state has led to the authorities planning to impose several restrictions on Thane city for a 10-day period from July 2. The nature of the restrictions, which would be effective in areas that come under the Thane Municipal Corporation, will be clarified by civic body on Tuesday.
On June 3, when lockdown rules were eased in the state, TMC had reported 4,019 cases and 84 deaths. Since then, the number of patients has increased by 139 per cent to 9,644 while fatalities have increased by 275 per cent to 315.
The Thane city police tweeted on Monday, “A complete lockdown will be announced in Thane for the next 10 days from July 2. A notification in this regard will be issued soon.” However, TMC Deputy Commissioner Sandeep Malvi clarified later that a decision on what all will be allowed to stay open will be taken on Tuesday in light of the government extending the statewide lockdown till July 31 on Monday.
Maharashtra Tourism Minister Aaditya Thackeray has said the Civil Aviation Ministry should coordinate with state governments on the repatriation flights under the Vande Bharat Missionfor effectively reaching out to Indians stranded around the world. In a letter, dated June 29, to Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, Thackeray said most evacuees are in touch with their respective state governments.
Thackeray said in his earlier communication to the Ministry of External Affairs and the managing director of Air India, he had requested flights for the Middle East, Australia, Russia along with other routes. "Although some flights were organised, we need many more for the same," the minister said in his letter.
A Thane couple succumbed to Covid-19 within four days of each other. Shabana Banu (43) died on June 26, four days after her husband Usman Badshah Shaikh’s death in Kalsekar hospital in Kausa. Their family claims when they refused to take away her body suspecting medical negligence, the hospital offered them Rs 5,000.
The couple suffered from low oxygen saturation levels. The hospital has been facing issues with regular oxygen supply since several days. On Monday, it was forced to cut down bed strength from 126 to 70 to compensate for lack of oxygen. Most Covid-19 patients require high pressure oxygen support.
Systematic bed management in hospitals across Mumbai has led to the reduction in waiting period for Covid-19 patients to a few hours. Earlier, there had been instances where patients had complained of waiting for days to get access to a hospital bed to get themselves treated.
Latest data shows Mumbai has 3,195 beds free in public and private hospitals, of them 111 are ICU beds and 32 with ventilators. Since a week, more than 100 ICUs are vacant for Covid-19 patients, as opposed to April and May when ICUs witnessed a waiting period often resulting in death of patients.
The Centre on Monday issued guidelines for Unlock Phase II, beginning from July 1, with relaxations in night curfew, provision for more domestic flights and trains, and clearance for more than five people in a shop. However, schools, colleges and other educational institutions will remain closed till July 31, and Metro rail, multiplexes, gyms, swimming pools, bars and auditoriums will stay shut until further orders. (Read the full list of what is allowed, and what is not)
The movement of people after the unlockdown and increased testing by the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) have led to more Covid-19 positive cases, which in turn has reduced the doubling rate of patients in the city to 18 days from 24 days.
The PMC has been carrying out Covid-19 test for all patients with suspected symptoms and their close contacts. The various measures taken by the civic administration had helped increase the doubling rate to 24 days on June 18. However, after 10 days, it dropped to 18 days on June 28. The percentage of confirmed cases to samples tested has also increased to 14.93 per cent with total testing so far of over 1.08 lakh and daily testing capacity increased to around 3,200 samples.
In order to avoid crowding of people, the Mumbai Police has urged people not to venture far from their homes. In a directive issued on Sunday, the cops said theu will seize all privately-owned vehicles that are found to have travelled beyond a 2-km radius from the houses of the owners for purposes other than going to office or availing medical services during emergencies. However, those travelling in private vehicles but are involved in essential services have been exempted from the rule.
As the country moves into the second phase of the Unlock, and the standoff with China in eastern Ladakh continues, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the nation at 4 pm on Tuesday. His address will come two days after his monthly Mann ki Baat radio programme, during which he had reiterated the country’s commitment to safeguard its sovereignty and territorial integrity, and had asked citizens to not be negligent as the economy reopened.
Welcome to the Indian Express live blog on coronavirus spread in Maharashtra. With nearly 1.7 lakh cases, the state has the maximum number of infections in the country followed by Delhi and Tamil Nadu. Follow this space to track the latest developments