Record spike takes Maha case tally past 30K; toll jumps by 67

Maharashtra on Saturday recorded its highest single-day jump in Covid-19 cases with 1,606 new infections, bringing the case count past 30,000 to 30,706.

Maharashtra on Saturday recorded its highest single-day jump in Covid-19 cases with 1,606 new infections, bringing the case count past 30,000 to 30,706.

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The state’s toll jumped by 67 deaths to 1,135.

Only 22 of the 67 deaths occurred in the 24-hour period, while the remaining – 45 -- deaths had occurred between April 14 and May 14 and were added to the total on Saturday, the state health department said.

Of the 67 casualties, Mumbai recorded 41, taking its death toll to 696.

Besides Mumbai, Thane and Pune recorded seven deaths each, five in Aurangabad, three in Jalgaon, two in Mira-Bhayander and one each in Nashik and Solapur.

On Saturday, Mumbai recorded 884 new coronavirus infections, taking the tally to 18,555, the state health department said. Pune recorded 161 new Covid-19 cases, while Thane recorded 114, Navi Mumbai 105 and Aurangabad 93.

The state has so far registered 15,181 cases in the third phase of the lockdown, which is higher than the total it recorded in the 19-day lockdown between April 15 and May 3. In the second phase of the lockdown, Maharashtra recorded 11,627 Covid-19 cases.

State health minister Rajesh Tope said that the lockdown has helped restrict the spread of the disease in the state. He added that the doubling rate has also increased during the lockdown period in Mumbai and the overall state.

The doubling rate — the number of days it takes for Covid-19 cases to double — has improved, he said. The state’s doubling rate is at 11.5 days, while Mumbai’s stands at 14 days.

State health minister Rajesh Tope said, “The doubling rate has increased to 14 days in Mumbai now. This is a big improvement from the earlier doubling rate of 7 to 8 days. Elsewhere in the state, too, we are trying to contain the spread in hotspots. We are working towards stricter enforcement of lockdown in such containment areas, so that cases reduce.”

The state health minister has already said that Maharashtra would see the peak of the Covid-19 outbreak by June-end. He said that they are preparing for a projection of over 50,000 cases in Mumbai in three weeks. “There are various projects. Some mathematical projections haven’t been accurate, but we are preparing for the worst. Currently, Mumbai has about 17,500 cases. It could increase three times by around June 20; so it would go over 50,000. We are preparing accordingly,” he said.

As the fourth phase of the lockdown starts from May 18, it is expected to have even more relaxations for industries and businesses in districts that fall in the green and the orange zones.

For the red zone, the state government is open to allowing further relaxations outside the containment area; a decision is expected next week.

A senior bureaucrat said, “We are awaiting Centre’s directives for lockdown protocol in the red zone. As the PM had indicated in his last address that the next phase would be different, we expect that more activities would be allowed outside containment areas. The sense among decision-makers is that we have to live with Covid-19.” The Centre is yet to issue guidelines for the next phase, following which the Maharashtra government would issue its guidelines.

State home minister Anil Deshmukh said that over 2.45 lakh migrant labourers have been sent back to their home states by 191 Shramik trains. He added that the first trains carrying migrant workers to Bihar and West Bengal, which had so far disallowed labourers to come back, departed from Maharashtra on Saturday.

“Around 2.45 lakh migrant workers have been sent to their respective home states by running 191 train services till now. We could not send trains to Bihar and West Bengal since these states did not allow it. But [NCP chief] Sharad Pawar and chief minister Thackeray personally spoke to West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar over the phone. Today, the first trains carrying migrant workers to West Bengal and Bihar were sent,” Deshmukh said in a video message.

The trains are being run from parts of Maharashtra to Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh. Deshmukh also informed that 3,71,310 migrant workers have been kept in 3,884 shelters across the state and the state government has arranged for their food.

Continuing the evacuation of migrants who are desperate to return to their homes, the Maharashtra State Transport Corporation (MSRTC) has, so far, ferried 1.42 lakh migrant workers in 11,380 buses to the state’s borders.

Meanwhile, as cases in Kolhapur have started to climb up, the district’s guardian minister Satej Patil has said that people from red zones such as Mumbai and Pune should not come to Kolhapur. He said that 22 of the 36 cases in the district are related to people coming from the red zone.

“Under the pretext of medical emergency, thousands of people are entering Kolhapur from red zones such as Mumbai and Pune. Most of the cases that are there in Kolhapur are from people coming from outside. Therefore, I appeal to people that those who have facilities to live in Mumbai and Pune should remain there. Only those with genuine need or emergency should come here. We need to see that the coronavirus cases do not spread in Kolhapur,” he told new channels.

He added that with over 20,000 people entering the district since movement was allowed with requisite permission, the influx has added burden on the state administration. The institutional quarantine facilities in the district are teeming with people and it is expected to run out of space, an official from the district collector office said. “Swab tests are being done of people entering. Till results come, they have to be kept in quarantine facilities and it is adding to the burden. We have requested the state police to add that permission from Kolhapur collector is needed before allowing people into the district,” Patil added.