Maharashtra sees record 67,123 new Covid cases; Mumbai’s daily tally remains below 9,000 for 2nd straight day

Almost 420 people succumbed to the disease while 56,783 recovered in Maharashtra in the last 24 hours. The state’s caseload is nearing 3.8 million with 59,970 deaths, 3,061,174 recoveries and 647,933 active cases, the bulletin showed.

Maharashtra on Saturday registered yet another highest single-day spike in its daily tally of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) with 67,123 new cases in the last 24 hours, according to the state health department’s bulletin. Almost 420 people succumbed to the disease while 56,783 recovered during the same period. The state’s caseload is nearing 3.8 million with 59,970 deaths, 3,061,174 recoveries and 647,933 active cases, the bulletin showed. More than 272,000 tests were conducted across Maharashtra in the last 24 hours which led to the detection of the news cases, it added.

Maharashtra's caseload is nearing 3.8 million with 59,970 deaths, 3,061,174 recoveries and 647,933 active cases, the bulletin showed. (Bhushan Koyande/ HT Photo)

However, Mumbai's 24-hour tally was below 9,000 for the second consecutive day at 8,811, taking the caseload to 571,018. Fifty-one people died in Maharashtra’s capital in the last 24 hours and the total deaths stand at 12,301. The active cases in Mumbai have climbed to 87,369 and nearly 470,000 people have recovered so far.

Apart from Mumbai, Pune, Thane and Nagpur are adding the maximum number of cases towards the state's daily tally. Pune has reported 713,144 cases till now and is the worst hit district in the state. Thane and Nagpur have seen 445,013 and 324,714 cases respectively.

Being the worst-affected state across India since the beginning of the pandemic last year, Maharashtra’s health infrastructure is massively overburdened to handle the current spike in cases and deaths. In order to curb the spread of the disease, the state has been placed under night curfew, weekend lockdown and Section 144.

The Maha Vikas Aghadi-led government in Maharashtra has raised the issue of shortage of oxygen and the antiviral drug Remdesivir to treat the infected patients. Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray rang up Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday to inform him about the shortage of these two components.

But according to Maharashtra minority minister and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Nawab Malik, Thackeray was told Modi was touring Bengal for the assembly elections. Hitting out at Modi, Malik said he was busy in elections while people were dying. The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) rubbished Malik’s allegations by saying PM Modi chaired a meeting to review the oxygen supply and the Centre is in touch with all states. Echoing PMO’s remarks, Union railways minister Piyush Goyal stated Maharashtra received the highest quantity of oxygen across India and accused Thackeray of playing petty politics.

Shortly after this squabble broke out between the Centre and the Maharashtra government, Union health minister Dr Harsh Vardhan spoke to CM Thackeray and “reassured him of adequate and uninterrupted supply of medical oxygen and all possible support with regard to healthcare infra, medicines and therapeutics.”