State reports 17K cases in one day

For the first time, Maharashtra witnessed more than 17,000 cases in a single day. The state, on Wednesday, reported 17,433 COVID-19 cases, taking the tally to 8,25,739 so far. The previous one day jump was 16,867, which was reported on August 29. Meanwhile, Mumbai also witnessed a spurt in daily cases, with 1,622 new cases and 34 COVID-19 deaths being reported on Wednesday. Its total count now stands at 1,48,569 cases with 7,725 deaths so far.

The death toll in Maharashtra is now 25,195 with 292 fatalities being reported in the last 24 hours. Of the total deaths, 81 were from the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), 58 in Pune, 45 in Nashik, 43 in Nagpur, 37 in Kolhapur, 15 in Latur, seven in Akola and five in Aurangabad, while one death was from another state.

Health officials are still wary about the relaxations being a reason behind the spike in cases across the state. Doing away with the restrictions on interdistrict movement will worsen the situation. “The spike in cases in the state on earlier occasions were mostly because of the movement of the people, especially those coming from red zones. The opening up of activities from Wednesday will lead to the rise in the cases,” said an official. Dr Avinash Bhondwe, state president of Indian Medical Association, said relaxations may lead to more cases. “Relaxing activities at this scale is inappropriate, especially when the cases in the state are on a constant rise over the last few days. The cases are rising rapidly in rural areas, where there are no health facilities, including oxygen, beds and emergency medicines. Districts like Sangli, Nagpur, Kolhapur, Beed and Osmanabad have reported a four-fold spike in fresh cases of COVID-19 over the last 7 to 10 days. In such a scenario, relaxations may lead to a resurgence of cases and perhaps emergence of the second wave,” he said.