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Coronavirus Latest: 60 new Covid-19 cases in Maharashtra recorded before noon
Maharashtra government is going to adopt aggressive testing approach to get a grip on the number of rising infections in the state.
The total number of people infected with coronavirus in Maharashtra raced to 1078 by Wednesday noon with 60 new positive cases of Covid-19 infections, said state health officials. Maharashtra is the only Indian state to have registered more than a thousand cases of Sars-CoV-2 infections which is close to one-fifth of the national tally of 5194.
Mumbai continues to be a hotspot for the deadly contagion with 44 of the 60 new cases on Wednesday reported from the metropolis, Pune reported nine new cases followed by four from Nagpur and one each from Ahmednagar, Akola and Buldhana, said officials from the state health department.
The state recorded its steepest hike in positive coronavirus cases for a single day on Tuesday with 150 new cases taking the number of infections past the thousand-mark. Mumbai was once again at the top of the pile with 116 new cases. 12 people died due to the disease in the state yesterday, taking the total number of casualties in the state to 64 since the outbreak of the viral disease.
The state is yet to announce the way forward after the 21-day nationwide lockdown ends on April 14, however, the chief minister has given indications that restrictions will continue in containment zones and other areas with infections.
The state government has also said that it will focus on aggressive testing and adding more containment areas in the urban areas.
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Maharashtra is one among the states that have requested the Centre to extend the lockdown period fearing a spike in infections if it is lifted prematurely. The Central government had only yesterday highlighted the importance of measures like lockdown and social distancing by citing recent ICMR research data to say it brings down the chances of an infected person spreading it further to just 2.5 persons from a possible 406 new infections.
