Maha sees over 5K new cases after 76 days

Restrictions imposed in Yavatmal, Akola, Amravati again; state’s case tally at 2,081,520, toll 51,669

MUMBAI: After a gap of 76 days, Maharashtra crossed the 5,000mark of Covid-19 cases and restrictions returned in Yavatmal, Akola and Amravati districts, which account for almost 20% of the state tally. On Thursday, Maharashtra recorded 5,427 new cases of Covid-19, taking its count to 2,081,520. The number of active cases is 40,858, following 2,543 reported recoveries in the last 24 hours.

Thursday’s figures are the highest since December 4, when the state had reported 5,229 cases. The Covid death toll rose to 51,669, with 38 casualties reported on Thursday. Of these, 17 occurred in the past 48 hours and 10 in the past week. The remaining 11 deaths are from before last week, officials said.

State health secretary Dr Pradeep Vyas on Thursday directed district collectors and municipal commissioners to implement Covid protocol; limit the number of people at gatherings; increase testing; and ensure at least 20-30 contacts are traced for each Covid-positive patient. Vyas has also instructed that the number of reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests be increased by 20 times in areas with spikes in new cases and medical centres should alert local authorities if they come across suspected Covid-19 patients. Furthermore, areas like public toilets, bus depots and railway stations should be disinfected regularly.

Following the spike in Covid cases, authorities in Yavatmal, Akola and Amravati imposed either partial lockdown or strict restrictions such as night curfews in their jurisdictions. From midnight today, Yavatmal district will have night curfews and gatherings of more than five are not allowed. Amravati district will observe complete lockdown once a week, on Sunday. Akola administration has also decided to enforce lockdown on Sundays and night curfew.

Chief secretary Sanjay Kumar has ordered the district collectors of Yavatmal, Amravati and Akola to declare the most affected areas as containment zones. These are Amravati civic corporation area and Achalpur tehsil in Amravati district; Yavatmal, Pusad and Pandharkwada municipal council in Yavatmal district; and Akot, Murtizapur tehsils and the area under Akola municipal corporation. “Detailed orders regarding permissible and non-permissible activities as well as all requisite precautionary measures in the said zones may be issued by you immediately,” said Kumar in his order.

On Thursday, these three districts accounted for more than 1,000 cases, with 733 cases Amravati; 212 in Akola; and 131 in Yavatmal.

State transport minister Anil Parab said chief minister (CM) Uddhav Thackeray has given powers to district authorities to take preventive measures in order to control the spread. “Covid-19 cases are rising in Akola, Amravati and Yavatmal. The chief minister has given all the powers to local authorities to bring the situation under control. They can also impose lockdown if required,” Parab told reporters on Thursday.

Deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar said the number of cases were rising because the general public was not taking the necessary precautions. “The Central

Agovernment also removed restrictions related to theatres and others; and the state also allowed local train services and state transport bus services, which cannot remain suspended for a very long time. Consequently, cases started rising,” said Pawar on Thursday. “If you see Amravati, the number of daily positive patients has reached close to Mumbai’s figures. It means things are getting serious there and we will have to make strict decisions to contain the spread,” he added.

District administrations in

Nagpur, Buldhana, Parbhani and Jalna have either restricted gatherings to less than five people or have started to strictly implement the government’s standard operating procedure (SOP) that was meant to facilitate unlocking on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the vaccination drive saw 48,006 people get inoculated on Thursday. Of them, 40,931 were given the first shot of the vaccine while 7,075 were administered the second shot. Since January 16, when the vaccination drive began, 830,345 have received the vaccine.