Maharashtra reports 6,479 Covid-19 cases; 11 districts continue to see more cases

Amid the Maharashtra government planning to lift curbs in 25 districts, it recorded 6,479 fresh Covid-19 infections on Sunday, pushing the count to 6,310,194.

Amid the Maharashtra government planning to lift curbs in 25 districts, it recorded 6,479 fresh Covid-19 infections on Sunday, pushing the count to 6,310,194. The tally of active cases increased to 78,962 as 4,110 recoveries were reported in the past 24 hours.

The state vaccinated 82,991 people on Sunday. (SATISH BATE/HT)

The state also saw 157 casualties. Ahmednagar reported the highest toll with 22 deaths. It was followed by Satara and Aurangabad with 16 fatalities. The state government has planned to ease lockdown restrictions in 25 districts where the growth rate as well as positivity rate is much less than the average rate of the state.

Currently, districts in the state have level-three restrictions, which involves tighter curbs with limited operational hours for shops and markets.

Shops and bazaars remain shut on the weekends, while malls, theatres and multiplexes are completely closed.

However, there won’t be any relaxations in 11 districts where growth rate and positivity rate is still higher than the state average.

On Sunday, they reported 5,115 cases, nearly 79% of the total infections. Highest cases were reported in Ahmednagar (888), while Pune reported 820 cases, Sangli 754, Solapur 691, Satara 642, Kolhapur 610, Beed 202, Ratnagiri 196, Raigad 180, Sindhudurg 105 and Palghar recorded 27 cases.

The above districts have continued to report maximum cases in the state for the past few days.

On Saturday, 5,384 cases (77.37%) and on Friday 5,273 cases (79.89%) were reported, out of the 6,959 and 6,600 reported respectively, stated the statistics issued by the state health department.

“The 11 districts continued to be a cause for concern as cases there are not going down. The state has been focusing on these districts and efforts are on to bring the rise under control. This is also the reason they will not get any relaxations for now,” said a senior official from the state health department.

Dr Rahul Pandit, member of state task force, said, “Daily cases are going down, but are going too slow. There is a lot of thought process given behind the decision and relaxations will be given only to those where there is a consistent trend of daily cases going down.”

On Saturday, union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan chaired a high-level meeting with ten states, including Maharashtra, which are either reporting a rise in new daily Covid cases or a rise in the positivity rate. Any laxity at this stage will result in the deterioration of the situation in these districts, the ministry noted.

On Sunday, Mumbai clocked 328 cases and reported a total 735,107 cases till date. It also recorded ten fatalities, taking the toll to 15,899.

In the last 24 hours, the state tested 217,741 samples and had a positivity rate of 2.97%. However, the overall positivity rate of the state stood at 13.1%, according to the data issued by the state health department.

It has also vaccinated 82,991 doses on Sunday after vaccinating 573,325 doses on Saturday, according to the data available on Co-Win portal. It has administered 44,670,703 doses in the state till date.

The state government is looking to reopen malls, multiplexes and restaurants with 50% capacity, while shops and establishments are likely to get extended hours of operation. The government is also looking at opening up trains for more categories. Also, it is facing a practical challenge of checking commuters’ vaccination certificates. An order for partial lifting of the curbs is likely to be issued in the next few days, officials said.