With 24,645 fresh cases, Maharashtra sees slight dip in daily Covid-19 tally; Mumbai records 3,262 new infections

The capital city of Mumbai also saw a fall in its daily cases on Monday with 3,262 people testing positive for the disease, taking the tally to nearly 366,000. Ten more people died in Mumbai and the death toll has now climbed to 11,596.

Maharashtra on Monday witnessed a slight dip in its daily coronavirus disease (Covid-19) tally in comparison to Sunday’s numbers as 24,645 fresh cases were recorded, according to state health department’s bulletin. With this, the caseload breached the 2.5 million mark.

The capital city of Mumbai also saw a fall in its daily cases on Monday with 3,262 people testing positive for the disease, taking the tally to nearly 366,000. (PTI file photo)

The state also recorded and 58 more related fatalities, which took the death toll to 53,457, according to health department. On Sunday, the state had recorded 30,535 cases. So far, 2,234,330 people have recovered from the disease.

The capital city of Mumbai also saw a fall in its daily cases on Monday with 3,262 people testing positive for the disease, taking the tally to nearly 366,000. Ten more people died in Mumbai and the death toll has now climbed to 11,596.

As the infections in Maharashtra have been increasing at a rapid rate for more than a month, state health minister Rajesh Tope said on Monday that all residents must adhere to Covid-19 related guidelines. Pointing out that chief minister Uddhav Thackeray is worried about the overall situation in the state, Tope told news agency ANI, “He (Thackeray) has requested people to behave responsibly to avoid Covid-19, otherwise, the government will have to resort to imposing a lockdown.”

Maharashtra is the worst-hit state in the country and accounts for more than 60% of its total Covid-19 cases, according to Union health ministry. The ministry said on Monday that Maharashtra along with five other states - Punjab, Kerala, Karnataka, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh - contributed nearly 84.5 per cent of the Covid disease cases across the country.

More than 4.2 million beneficiaries have been vaccinated against the disease so far. On March 11, the state government allowed all vaccination centres to be functional round the clock in an attempt to ramp up the vaccination drive.

Tope also said that the state government needed more vaccine doses to inoculate all vulnerable groups within three months. “We have requested for 20 lakh vaccines per day. We were informed that we’ll receive 9 lakh Covishield vaccines tomorrow,” he added.