Maharashtra records 58,993 cases; tally reaches 3,288,540

The state also saw more than 300 fatalities for the third consecutive day with 301 deaths, taking the toll to 57,329. The active cases also rose to 534,603 which accounts for 16.25% of the total cases reported till date.

Maharashtra on Friday recorded 58,993 Covid-19 cases pushing the count to 3,288,540. The active cases also rose to 534,603 which accounts for 16.25% of the total cases reported till date.

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The state also saw more than 300 fatalities for the third consecutive day with 301 deaths, taking the toll to 57,329. Nagpur reported the highest number of fatalities with 33 deaths in the city and 15 from its rural areas. Mumbai reported 35 deaths, taking its toll to 11,916. It also recorded 9,202 cases and taking tally to 501,182.

To control the cases, the state government imposed strict restrictions such as a night curfew on weekdays from April 5 and complete curfew on weekends from Friday 8pm till Monday 7am. It has also ordered shutting down of non-essentials businesses till April 30.

However, the sharp rise in Covid-19 cases has continued. Since the past four days, the state is reporting more than 55,000 cases daily and has recorded 475,474 cases in the past nine days.

State health minister Rajesh Tope on Friday said the state is heading towards complete lockdown, but the state will decide to impose it only if they are unable to cope up with the situation.

“We are heading towards complete lockdown. However, we are hoping to control the situation. I am not in favour of imposing it immediately, but if hospitals are overwhelmed and we start facing shortage of doctors, healthcare workers, health infrastructure and medicines, then lockdown has to be imposed to break the chain,” Tope told NDTV.

In the past 24 hours, the state tested 245,707 samples and had a positivity rate of 24%. The overall positivity rate of the state stood at 15.02%. It has also reported 45,391 recoveries on Friday, taking the number of recovered patients to 2,695,148.

With 8,057 cases, Pune recorded the second-highest cases across the state. Of these, Pune city and district recorded 5,714 and 2,343 cases, respectively.

The state has also decided to allow rapid antigen tests instead of RT-PCR tests for the staff allowed to function during strict restrictions. The negative test report will remain valid till 15 days. This rule is valid for workers related to various sectors including public transport and private transport; shootings for films, serials, advertisements; home delivery services; wedding venues; funeral venues; eatable vendors; labourers; workers; staff in the manufacturing sector; e-commerce firms staff; permitted construction activity, etc. The new rule will come into effect from April 10, states an order issued by Aseem Gupta, principal secretary, disaster management and relief and rehabilitation department.