After 10 days’ spurt, state records less than 8K cases on Monday

After continuously recording spurt in corona cases, Maharashtra on Monday saw a dip in new cases. The state has recorded less than 8,000 cases in a day after a gap of 10 days. The state has recorded 7,924 Covid-19 cases and 227 deaths in the last 24 hours, taking the total positive count to 3,83,723 with 13,833 deaths so far. Till now 2,21,944 patients have been discharged across the state, with 8,707 being recovered on Monday.

Of the 227 deaths, 129 were from the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), followed by 52 in Pune, 17 in Nashik, 12 in Kolhapur, seven in Latur, two in Nagpur and one in Akola, while one death was from another state.

According to the public health department of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, the city has recorded 1,033 new cases and 39 deaths reported on Monday, increasing the progressive count to 1,10,029 with 6,129 deaths so far. However, only 21,812 are active, with more than 81,944 recoveries (nearly 74%) to date.

Dr Subhash Salunkhe, a member of the state’s technical expert committee, said a bulk of cases remain concentrated in urban areas and fringes of big cities. “Wherever lockdown has been eased, we have seen a spurt after ten days. The numbers show there are few and sporadic cases being reported from rural areas,” he said.

Even as the state government plans to open up activities after the sixth phase of the lockdown ends on July 31, the rise in cases in a few districts and cities in Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) has become a cause of concern. “There will be an extension of the ongoing lockdown at least by a month, although we are planning to open up activities in a phased manner. The first week of August will see a few more activities allowed, with stricter curbs in containment areas. The districts and civic bodies with a high number of cases have already been told to ramp up health infrastructure and continue aggressive tracing and testing,” said a state official.

So far, a total of 19.25 lakh tests have been conducted in the state, of which nearly 20 per cent were positive. There are 9.22 lakh people in home quarantine and over 44,136 in institutional quarantine.