Maha sees over 6K infections for 2nd day in a row

MUMBAI: Maharashtra on Saturday reported more than 6,000 new Covid-19 infections for a second day in a row, pushing the count to 2,093,913. The number of active cases stood at 48,439, following 2,567 recoveries in the past 24 hours.

India’s worst-hit state’s death toll reached 51,753 after 40 more casualties were reported, of which 13 were in the past 48 hours and 12 were in the last week. The other 15 deaths were from the period before last week, officials said.

With the steady, yet alarming spike in infections, the state government has directed local authorities to take all preventive measures to arrest the virus’ spread, which includes bringing back lockdown restrictions. However, the state government is yet to call it a ‘second wave”, saying that it is too early to reach such a conclusion.

From Saturday night, weekend curfews have been imposed in districts such as Amravati and Akola, whereas in Yavatmal, a 10-day curfew has already been imposed from February 18, restricting a gathering of five or more people at a place. Schools and colleges in Wardha have been ordered to remain closed until further notice.

On Saturday, 1,607 cases were recorded in these four districts, of which, Amravati (both city and district) reported the highest number — 1,055. Akola saw

348 cases, Wardha 112 and Yavatmal 92. It means over 25% of the day’s caseload was from these four districts, which are in Vidarbha region. The region has reported 41% (2,609) of Saturday’s cases.

The rise in daily cases can be gauged from this statistic: In the first 10 days of this month(February 1 to 10), 25,854 cases were reported, but in the past ten days (February 11 to 20), a total of 44,305 cases have been reported, which is a rise of 58% (18,451 infections).