Maharashtra, Mumbai, Pune Coronavirus Highlights: Maharashtra’s COVID-19 tally rose to 11,67,496 on Friday with the single-day addition of 21,656 cases, the state health department said. Due to the death of 405 patients during the day, the fatality count in the state mounted to 31,791, it said. A total of 22,078 patients were discharged on Friday after treatment, taking the number of recoveries in the state to 8,34,432, it said, adding that the state now has 3,00,887 active cases.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra energy minister Nitin Raut tested positive for Covid-19 on Friday.
Mumbai city reported 2,283 positive cases during the day, which pushed its overall case count to 1,80,668, while its death toll rose to 8,375, of which 52 were reported today.
With 16 people working at Mantralaya, the state secretariat building, succumbing to Covid-19 so far, government officials have threatened to stop work if the condition of 100 per cent attendance is not withdrawn. In a representation to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday, the Maharashtra State Gazetted Officers Federation (MSGOF) and the Maharashtra Mantralaya Officers Association (MMOA) has blamed the lack of precautionary measures and the violation of social distancing norms for the surge in the number of cases, while arguing that the decision mandating 100 per cent attendance of class A and class B officials was ill-conceived.
Prohibitory orders restricting the movement of people have been extended in Mumbai till September 30 in view of rising coronavirus cases, an official said on Thursday. The restrictions under section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure are in place since lockdown began. They were extended as per the August 31 guidelines about easing of the lockdown of the Maharashtra government, and no new restrictions have been imposed, PTI reported.
The coronavirus case count in Pune district of Maharashtra reached 2,44,516 with a single-day spike of 4,093 cases, PTI quoted a health official as saying. The death toll in the district mounted to 5,536 with 85 more fatalties in a day, the health official said.
Pimpri Chinchwad reported 843 cases, where the tally has reached 68,493, the official said.
The number of positive cases reported from the rural parts of the district, the civil hospital and areas within the Pune Cantonment Board (PCB) has risen to 47,654 so far, the official said.
Maharashtra's COVID-19 tally rose to 11,67,496 on Friday with the single-day addition of 21,656 cases, the state health department said. Due to the death of 405 patients during the day, the fatality count in the state mounted to 31,791, it said. A total of 22,078 patients were discharged on Friday after treatment, taking the number of recoveries in the state to 8,34,432, it said, adding that the state now has 3,00,887 active cases. Mumbai city reported 2,283 positive cases during the day, which pushed its overall case count to 1,80,668, while its death toll rose to 8,375, of which 52 were reported today. Pune city added 1,875 COVID-19 cases, which took its tally to 1,38,268, while 28 deaths pushed toll to 3,165.
Mumbai reported 2,267 new COVID- 19 cases on Friday, taking its cumulative infection count to 1,80,542, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said. The death toll in the Maharashtra capital increased to 8,372 as 52 patients succumbed to the infection during the day, it said. The number of recovered patients rose to 1,37,664 as 925 more patients were discharged from hospitals, the civic body said. Mumbai's COVID-19 recovery rate is 77 per cent and the city has 34,136 active cases at present, according to it.
A total of 500 suburban train services will be run in Mumbai from September 21, an increase from the 350 currently on the tracks amid the coronavirus outbreak, said a Western Railway official on Friday. The suburban trains in operation now are only for frontline staff and essential service workers as laid down by the state government, and a QR code-empowered ticketing mechanism is in place for those who need to board. "In order to maintain social distancing and avoid overcrowding, Western Railway has taken the decision to increase the number of daily special suburban services from 350 to 500 from Monday," said Sumit Thakur, WR chief public relations officer.
Several hospitals in Pune are now facing an irregular supply of remdesivir, an antiviral drug proven to have had some impact in fighting Covid-19. Late on Wednesday, at KEM hospital, for instance, the administration was struggling to procure remdesivir for a critical patient, while Noble hospital authorities said they paid for the stock of vials but had yet to receive it on Thursday.
At Bharati hospital, too, doctors admitted to a shortage, while at Rao Nursing Home, doctors said they got a limited supply as against the required stock. While Ruby Hall said it had an adequate stock, several doctors said there was an increasing demand for this antiviral drug.
The Mumbai Police late Thursday clarified that there were no changes in the restrictions in effect in the city after a notice issued by it under Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) on Wednesday, extending the prohibitory orders till September 30, led to confusion.
The police top brass said the notice was merely an extension of an earlier one issued under Section 144 — prohibitory orders restricting movement of people.
The confusion started after a notice under under Section 144 was issued by DCP (Operations) Shahaji Umap on Wednesday, extending the restrictions in place till September 30.
The Shiv Sena on Friday slammed the Modi government over the economic crisis faced by the country, saying demonetisation and “mishandling” of the coronavirus-induced lockdown were to be blamed for the current situation.
An editorial in party mouthpiece ‘Saamana’ criticised the NDA government for what it called trying to “wash its hands of the crisis”.
“On March 13, Union health minister Harsh Vardhan said there was no health emergency in the country, while on March 22, the Prime Minister imposed a one-day ‘janata curfew’ and on March 24 announced a 21-day lockdown with just four-hour notice,” the Marathi daily said.
US biotechnology company Moderna has said it would know about the effectiveness of its coronavirus vaccine by November. Moderna’s vaccine candidate is one of the three undergoing large-scale phase-3 clinical trials in the United States, in which 30,000 participants are being enrolled.
Company CEO Stephane Bancel has said if the vaccine candidate was found to be at least 50 per cent effective, the minimum bar set by the US Food and Drug Administration for approving a vaccine, it would immediately move to apply for an emergency use authorisation.
Maharashtra energy minister Nitin Raut has tested Coivd-19 positive. "I have been tested positive for Covid-19 today. I would like to request to all those who had come in contact with me the past few days to get themselves tested as a precautionary measure.Stay Safe everyone and takecare," Raut said.
With barely a few weeks to go before the much-delayed final year/final-term degree examinations are conducted online for the first time at the Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU), students are a nervous lot.
As students will attempt an online multiple choice question (MCQ) format-based examination for the first time, they have several apprehensions. With the university yet to put out a model question paper or question bank, and mock exams scheduled only a couple of days prior to exams, students are baffled on how they are going to prepare for the MCQ format.
As active Covid-19 cases crossed three lakh in Maharashtra on Thursday, Medical Education Minister Amit Vilasrao Deshmukh announced that 1,204 medical students, who graduate from various medical colleges, will be hired on contract to fight the pandemic.
As the government plans to fill posts for senior residents and medical officers in government hospitals, data from the public health department shows there is 68 per cent vacancy for class I medical officers, including specialist doctors, and 14 per cent vacancy for medical officers across the state.
Maharashtra crossed a million Covid-19 cases last week, with 23,000 to 25,000 new cases and around 400 deaths being reported every day. On Thursday, the state recorded 24,619 new cases and 398 deaths. At least 36,827 people remain under institutional quarantine and another 3.07 lakh under home isolation and in various Covid centres.
A Police Inspector posted in Raigad district succumbed to Covid-19 on Thursday. The death took the toll in the Maharashtra Police force to 209.
The deceased, Rajendra Pardeshi, who held the post of Deputy Superintendent of Police (Home) in Raigad district police, was admitted to D Y Patil Hospital in Nerul on September 9 after testing positive for Covid-19. Officials said Pardeshi died on Thursday evening after his health worsened. As of Thursday, 187 constables and 22 officers in the state police force have succumbed to the infection. A total of 20,367 personnel have tested positive so far, of which 3,796 are active cases.
At least 15 per cent of the 1.49 lakh children aged up to six years screened during a drive conducted by the Women and Child Development department in Nandurbar in July has been found malnourished. The drive, the first since the coronavirus outbreak, also found that 7.9 per cent of the children in the age group in Melghat and 2.3 per cent in Palghar were malnourished.
While the three tribal districts have historically reported maximum cases of malnutrition in Maharashtra, officials have pointed out that the higher numbers could be linked to the lockdown since March, which affected nutrition programmes across the state.
According to Women and Child Development department, of the 1.49 lakh children up to six years screened in Nandurbar, 3,710 were found with severe acute malnutrition (SAM) and 18,644 with moderate acute malnutrition (MAM). Dr Nitin Borke, Nandurbar district health officer, said the increase in malnourishment is likely because of the return of local migratory population from Gujarat and other parts of Maharashtra.
Mumbai reported 2,389 new COVID-19 cases, the highest single-day count so far, taking the tally to 1,78,275 on Thursday, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said. Also, 43 more patients succumbed to the infection, pushing up the toll to 8,320, it said. The previous highest single-day case count was 2,371, reported on September 10. According to the civic body's update, the city's active COVID-19 cases rose to 32,849, the highest in the past couple of months.
Maharashtra's COVID-19 case tally rose to 11,45,840 on Thursday with the addition of 24,619 cases, the state health department said. With 398 patients dying during the day, the death toll in the state reached 31,351, it said. A total of 19,522 patients were discharged on Thursday after treatment, taking the number of recoveries in the state to 8,12,354, it said, adding that the state now has 3,01,752 active cases. Mumbai city reported 2,411 new cases during the day, which pushed its overall case count to 1,78,385. The death toll in the city rose to 8,323, of which 43 were reported on Thursday.
The Mumbai Police late Thursday evening clarified that there were no changes in the restrictions in effect in the city after a notice under section 144 issued by the police on Wednesday led to confusion.
The police top brass confirmed that the notice issued was merely an extension of an earlier notice under section 144 and that there were no changes in place. The confusion began after a notice issued by DCP (operations) Shahaji Umap under section 144 was issued on Wednesday that extended the restorations in place till September 30.
The Mumbai police spokesperson DCP N Ambika however soon clarified, " DCP Operations has issued an order under 144 CrPC yesterday which will be applicable in Mumbai city upto 30th September. It is issued as per the guidelines received from the state government on 31st August regarding easing of restrictions and phase-wise opening of Lockdown (Mission Begin Again) and no new/fresh restrictions have been imposed by Mumbai Police."
A senior officer added that order issued u/s 144 CrPC is a mere extension of our previous order (issued on 31st August) and no new/fresh restrictions have been imposed by Mumbai Police
Prohibitory orders restricting movement of people have been extended in Mumbai till September 30 in view of rising coronavirus cases, an official said on Thursday. The restrictions under section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure are in place since lockdown began. They were extended as per the August 31 guidelines about easing of lockdown of the Maharashtra government, and no new restrictions have been imposed, the official said.
The tally of coronavirus cases in Mumbai's slum-dominated Dharavi area rose to 2,975 with 15 new cases coming to light on Thursday, said a Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) official. The area had recorded 15 new patients on Wednesday too. 2,557 patients from the area have already recovered from the infection while there are 146 active COVID-19 cases. Spread over 2.5 square kilometres and housing a population of over 6.5 lakh, Dharavi is known as Asia's largest slum.
At least 364 Maharashtra Police personnel tested positive for coronavirus and four died of the disease in the last 24 hours across the state, an official said on Thursday. With this, 20,367 state police personnel, including 2,218 officers, have so far contracted COVID-19, while 208 have succumbed to the viral infection, the official said. The deceased police personnel include 21 officers. As of now, there are 3,796 active COVID-19 cases in the state police force while 16,363 personnel have recovered from the infection, the official said.
Stressing that there should no politicisation of the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, the Shiv Sena on Thursday asked the Centre to release money to states from the PM Cares Fund and also clear GST dues to help them deal with the coronavirus situation. During the second day of discussion in Rajya Sabha on the pandemic and steps taken by the Centre, Sanjay Raut (Shiv Sena) took exception to the criticism by some BJP leaders, including Rajya Sabha MP Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, of the measures taken by the Maharashtra government to control the pandemic. (PTI)
In absolute numbers, Maharashtra has the largest number of active cases, about three lakh. That is not surprising considering that the state has so far seen more than 11 lakh people getting infected with the virus. Pune alone has more than 82,000 active cases. That is more than the number in any state, barring Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. Mumbai and Thane together have more than 60,000. Read the analysis here
Reiterating the need of preventive measures to contain the spread of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in the city, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) on Wednesday said it would strictly implement the decision of Rs 500 penalty against those violating mandatory use of masks and Rs 1,000 for spitting in public places. In a notification, Municipal Commissioner Vikram Kumar said the civic body was working towards containment of Covid-19 by taking decisions as per power entrusted under the Communicable Disease Act, 1897, Disaster Management Act, 2005, Maharashtra Covid-19 Preventive Measures Rules, 2020, and various resolutions of the state government. Read the report here
Police have managed to find a married man, who eloped with his lover to Indore in June after lying to his family that he had tested positive for the novel coronavirus, and that he would not survive the infection. According to police, on June 24, Manish Mishra, a supervisor, employed with a clearing agent at JNPT in Navi Mumbai, called his wife and told her that he had tested positive for the virus. He also told her that he would not survive and then switched off his phone, police said. Police further said his family filed a missing persons complaint the next day after he did not return home. Read the news here