REASONS FOR RISE IN COVID-19 CASES

Blatant violation of COVID-19 home quarantine and social distancing guidelines and unavailability of adequate resources for contact-tracing have led to a surge in COVID-19 cases in Maharashtra, a senior health official said on Thursday.

Maharashtra on Wednesday recorded a single-day spike of 8,807 new cases, taking the count of infections in the state to 21,21,119.

The state reported over 8,000 cases in a day after a gap of over four months.

"We are helpless as people are not following the basic guidelines for home quarantine after discharge from hospitals post recovery or after return from a place that mandates such isolation for a limited period," Dr Subhash Salunke, technical adviser to the state government on COVID-19 outbreak, said.