Maha sees record one-day spike of 16,867 Covid cases

MUMBAI: Saturday saw a record 16,867 Covid-19 cases in the state, a massive jump from the previous highest in a day (14,888) , even as the government considers more relaxations from the first week of September. The case tally rose to 764,281 as the state reported 328 more fatalities, taking the toll to 24,103.

Pune district reported 3,062 cases (Pune city – 1972, PimpriChinchwad – 1,132 and rural Pune — 958), followed by other key contributors such as Nashik (1,162), Nagpur (1,401), Jalgaon (879). Mumbai reported 1,432 cases, taking its tally to 1,43,389.

In response to the notification issued by the Central government on Saturday, the state, too, is expected to take steps to extend relaxations from the ongoing lockdown. The state government is mulling to increase staff in government and private offices to 30 to 50%, allow interdistrict travel and other activities, including gymnasiums, to be operational from the first week of September. Sanjay Kumar, chief secretary, said the state notification will be issued in a day or two. “We will take the central notification into account, while issuing our own by Monday or so. The decision about relaxations will be taken after due deliberation,” he said.

Among 1,85,131 active patients in the state, the highest (49,365) are in Pune, 20,264 in Thane and 19,,971 in Mumbai. With 11,541 recoveries on Saturday, the number of recoveries reached 554,711. The state recovery rate stood at 72.58%.

Of the 328 fatalities reported in past 24 hours, 255 were from past 48 hours, 37 were reported in the past week and the remaining 36 were from the period before it, the state health department has stated. The state’s case fatality rate (CFR) stood at 3.15%, against the national rate of 1.82%. Maharashtra conducted 77,678 tests and reported 16,867 cases at a positivity rate of 21.71%. State has 13,12,059 people under home quarantine and 35,524 are institutionally quarantined.