Covid-19 cases in Maharashtra see upward trend amid third wave concerns

Maharashtra found 10,066 people positive with Covid-19 on Wednesday. There were 10,107 cases of infections in Maharashtra on June 16, since then state cases below the 10,000-mark.

Daily cases of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in Maharashtra saw an upward trend after maintaining a trajectory below the 10,000-mark for days even as the state is battling the Delta Plus variant, a mutation more dangerous than all of its previous variants. On Thursday, the number of daily Covid-19 cases neared 10,000-mark as 9844 people found to be infected.

Since the beginning of the pandemic in India in March last year, Maharashtra has been the hotspot of Covid-19 cases. (HT Photo)

Maharashtra found 10,066 people positive with Covid-19 on Wednesday. There were 10,107 cases of infections in Maharashtra on June 16, since then state cases below the 10,000-mark. There were 8,470 and 6,270 cases of infection on Tuesday and Monday respectively.

Since the beginning of the pandemic in India in March last year, Maharashtra has always been the hotspot of Covid-19 cases. In the second wave as well, it was among the top states to report the highest number of daily cases of infection. The first case in the state was recorded in Pune on March 9, 2020.

The total number of cases till now is 6,007,431 in Maharashtra. The total number of active patients in Maharashtra stands at 121,767, while the total number of deaths has now reached 119,859. Pune leads with 16,456 deaths, followed by Mumbai with 15,348 patients.

On Thursday, chief minister Uddhav Thackeray held a meeting with the local administration of seven districts in which he directed the officials to prepare considering the possibility of Covid-19 third wave. He asked the state health department to coordinate with local administrations and prepare a plan to ramp up health infrastructure.

In view of the Delta Plus variant, the chief minister also directed district administrations not to take risk by granting more relaxations under the five-level plan imposed by the state government.

Thackeray held a review meeting of collectors of seven districts — Sindhudurg (1.21%), Ratnagiri (0.97%), Kolhapur (0.79%), Sangli (0.54%), Satara (0.40%), Raigad (0.39%) and Hingoli (0.004%) — where average weekly positivity rate is on the higher side, barring Hingoli. At present, the average positivity rate of the state is 0.15%.