With 1,709 cases in 24 hours, Mumbai sees highest Covid-19 surge this year

This is the second consecutive day that Maharashtra is reporting over 15,000 infections in 24 hours.

Continuing the steady surge of daily infections, Mumbai on Saturday recorded 1,709 Covid-19 cases, which is the highest this year. Maharashtra reported 15,602 fresh cases and 88 deaths in the last 24 hours. This is the second consecutive day that the state is reporting over 15,000 cases. On Friday, 15,817 infections were reported.

A health worker calls name of a person who is to receive COVID-19 vaccine in Mumbai, India, Wednesday, March 10, 2021. Pandemic-weary and sequestered mostly in their homes for a year, India’s elderly are now standing in long lines at vaccination sites, then rolling up their sleeves to get shots protecting them against the coronavirus. (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade) (AP)

All districts of Maharashtra, including Mumbai, is seeing an unprecedented surge of fresh infections since February. The last time the state witnessed these many daily infections was in September-October when the pandemic was at its peak in the state. The surge comes on the day India registered 24,882 new infections across the states, which is also the highest single-day spike this year.

India’s active Covid-19 caseload over 2 lakh; 7 states contributing most cases

In the last 24 hours, 7,467 people have recovered from Covid-19 in Maharashtra which is less than half of the number of new infections, and thus contributing a huge chunk to the number of active Covid-19 cases.

While several districts of Maharashtra have imposed restrictions on the movement of people, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation is yet to enforce any restriction, apart from general Covid-19 guidelines. On Saturday, Aurangabad district administration decided to impose weekend lockdowns until further orders. From March 15, a strict lockdown will be there in Nagpur. However, people are still crowding especially before a place is scheduled to go under lockdown, as people are flocking to markets to hoard essentials, though essential services will be allowed during lockdown.

In Munbai city, apartments and highrises are the hotspots, while slums have reported comparatively fewer number of infections in the last two months. In districts, general disobeyance to social distancing rules, reopening of establishments, pandemic fatigue have been identified as factors contributing to the rise.