Hindustan Times ST (Mumbai)

Case spike in rural areas catches state’s eye; tally rises to 104,568

3,427 NEW CASES Govt directs Solapur, Aurangabad, Jalgaon authoritie­s to ramp up infra

- Surendra P Gangan and Sagar Pillai surendra.gangan@hindustant­imes.com

Maharashtr­a on Saturday reported 3,427 more infections to take the tally to 1,04,568, as the government looks at strengthen­ing its focus on rural areas after a spike in numbers.the state, which had breached the 1 lakh-cases mark on Friday, has recorded over 3,000 fresh infections for four consecutiv­e days.

With 113 more deaths, the state toll reached 3,830, although 73 of them were from the past two days, while the remaining casualties were between May 27 and June 10.

Mumbai, the worst-affected Indian city, saw 1,380 new infections and 69 more deaths, taking the tally and toll to 56,831 and 2,113 respective­ly. Over the past week, the state has recorded 21,600 cases and 861 deaths – an average of 3,086 cases and 123 deaths per day — till Saturday. Saturday saw the third highest single-day jump in cases. Meanwhile, even as Mumbai could restrict the virus spread to some extent, the spike in caseload in rural parts and districts like Solapur, Aurangabad, Yavatmal and Jalgaon remained a cause of concern for the state administra­tion. The district administra­tions have been directed to ramp up health infrastruc­ture, so as to contain the spread.

While Mumbai’s daily rise in cases dropped in comparison to the overall state figures over the past three weeks, a few districts like Solapur, Aurangabad, Jalgaon, Akola and Dhule have registered a sharp growth in the past three weeks.

Solapur’s case count rose to 1,620 on Friday from 522 on May 21, a day before the lockdown was relaxed substantia­lly by reducing areas under red zones. Aurangabad’s tally rose to 1,126 from 457 on May 21, while Jalgaon’s count went up to 1,540 from 331. In Akola and Dhule, the numbers rose to 979 and 353 from 344 and 95 respective­ly.

Mumbai accounted for 63.73% of the state’s new cases on May 14, 56.47% on May 28, 49.06% on June 4 and 39.10% on Friday.

 ?? SATISH BATE/HT PHOTO ?? Health workers on their way to Dharavi to screen residents on Saturday.
SATISH BATE/HT PHOTO Health workers on their way to Dharavi to screen residents on Saturday.

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