After 6 days, Maharashtra logs fewer than 30k cases

The state recorded 27,918 cases on Tuesday, taking its tally to 2,773,436. However, the reduction in numbers has been attributed to marginally lower testing on account of a public holiday on Monday, said officials

After six consecutive days of recording over 30,000 Covid-19 infections, Maharashtra on Tuesday recorded 27,918 fresh cases, taking the tally to 2,773,436. The reduction in numbers has been attributed to marginally lower testing on account of a public holiday on Monday, officials said. In the past 24 hours, 129,876 samples were tested. Mumbai too saw lower numbers on Tuesday with 4,760 new cases. It was recording over 5,000 new cases daily since March 24.

Passengers stand in a queue for Covid-19 test, at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus in Mumbai on March 22. (File photo)

The state reported 139 fatalities, pushing its death toll to 54,422. Mumbai recorded 10 deaths, taking its toll to 11,675. Nashik district reported 22 deaths, while Dhule district added 16 deaths. Nandurbar and Ahmednagar added seven and nine fatalities, respectively. Out of the 139 deaths reported, 72 deaths occurred in the past 48 hours, and 45 in the last week. The remaining 22 deaths are from the period before last week.

Maharashtra has gone past 600,000 cases in March, which is more than what the state clocked in September 2020-- when it experienced the first peak. The state has added 618,366 cases between March 1 and March 30, in comparison to September’s 593,192 cases. The number of deaths, however, is significantly lower than that in September. So far in March, 2,268 deaths have been recorded, while the state had 12,079 deaths in September.