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Maharashtra reports one-day jump of 22,543 Covid-19 cases, recoveries near 7.5 lakh
Amid the rising Covid-19 cases, chief minister Uddhav Thackeray warned on Sunday that the situation is likely to become more severe in the coming days.
Maharashtra’s tally of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) surged past the one million mark with 22,543 new infections and 416 deaths in a single day, the state health department said on Sunday.
The western state continues to be the worst-affected region in the country with 1,060,308 confirmed cases of the coronavirus disease while its death toll has climbed to 29,531.
Amid the rising Covid-19 cases, chief minister Uddhav Thackeray warned on Sunday that the situation is likely to become more severe in the coming days. He advised people to take precautions and follow social distancing norms as the coronavirus pandemic, he pointed out, could take a “monstrous form”.
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“The scenario that I was afraid of is before us now. The cases of coronavirus are rising and will continue to rise. The cases have again started increasing in Mumbai and other areas. They are spreading in rural areas as well. There is a concern that it can take a disastrous form. The World Health Organization (WHO) too has stated that this can be an indication for another major crisis,” Thackeray said.
“Like other countries, the state will have to start penalising people for violating social distancing. For instance, people will be fined for not wearing a mask at a public place; action against people for crowding a public place etc. We will have to take such steps as people are not following the norms seriously,” the chief minister added.
Data showed Covid-19 cases in Mumbai have reached 169,741 with 2,085 fresh infections and the city’s toll has gone up to 8,150.
Even with new Covid-19 cases on the rise, Maharashtra has its hopes up as the state also has the highest number of people who have recovered from the viral infection. As of Sunday, as many as 740,061 people had been discharged from the hospitals or had recovered in home isolation with 11,549 recoveries reported in the last 24 hours, according to the state health department.
Maharashtra has reported 17.2% of the total recovered cases in the country, the Union health ministry had said earlier on Sunday.
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To tackle the pandemic, the state government launched a state-wide campaign, ‘My Family, My Responsibility’ on Sunday. The campaign will aim at achieving effective health care education for the control of Covid-19 outbreak, according to Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) commissioner IS Chahal. Under the campaign, authorities will survey 22.5 million families twice a month.
