More than 30K Covid cases in Maharashtra

The state on Sunday recorded its highest one-day spike with 30,535 new Covid-19 infections

The state on Sunday recorded its highest one-day spike with 30,535 new Covid-19 infections.

(Praful Gangurde/HT)

Since the pandemic broke out in the state on March 9, 2020, the state has never witnessed more than 30,000 cases on a single day. Mumbai also recorded its highest single-day spike with 3,779 cases.

The state also recorded 99 deaths on Sunday. The state’s tally has reached 24,79,682 to date, while the number of fatalities is 53,399. Mumbai also recorded 10 deaths on Sunday.

In the last five days, the state has recorded over one lakh new Covid-19 infections. Starting March 17, the state has been reporting more than 20,000 cases every day, taking the count to 1,32,354 new Covid cases in just five days. On Sunday,

Nanded guardian minister Ashok Chavan said that a curfew will be imposed in the district starting March midnight for 11 days owing to the increasing number of cases. A curfew restricts the assembly of more than five people.

There are 2,10,120 active cases in the state, with the highest in Pune (42,015), followed by Nagpur (29,771), Mumbai (22,081), Thane (19,788) and Nashik (15,619).

On Sunday, cities like Nagpur, Nashik, and Pune also recorded a high number of cases - 2,747, 1,666 and 2,978 respectively. Experts said that the cases will continue to rise for the next few weeks.

Dr Shashank Joshi, a member of the state Covid task force said, “The number of cases will be high as the testing has gone up by a lakh now. Also, contact tracing has been increased to 1:30 now.”

He further said, “It is an alarming situation in the state but people are still not following Covid protocols. This is the time people must stay home if they do not want another lockdown. Right now, the healthcare is under stress but if its burdened more, then there will no option but to impose a lockdown.”

While the number of cases in the city and state continues to rise, there was a drop in the number of vaccinations in the state on Saturday. According to official data, a total of 2,05,179 citizens, including health and frontline workers, were inoculated on Saturday.

This is almost a 20% drop from Friday when 2,56,191 citizens were inoculated in the state. Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray has asked the Central government to open vaccination for everyone above the age of 45 to curb the spread of the infection.

On Saturday, 1,05,226 senior citizens above the age of 60 got their first dose, while 31,880 people above the age of 45 with comorbidities got their first dose.

Among health care workers, 12,148 got their first dose while 15,030 got their second dose. Similarly, 19,559 frontline workers got their first dose, while 21,336 got their second dose of vaccination.