In all, 162 new COVID-19 cases were reported across Maharashtra, taking the cumulative tally to 1,297 positive cases on Thursday, the highest in the country, said health officials.
Meanwhile, health authorities in Pune district confirmed that 12 deaths had been recorded on Wednesday, which takes the district’s death toll to 20 and the State’s to 82 despite the State health authorities including only two of these deaths in their medical bulletin issued on Wednesday.
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The bulk of the new cases were from Mumbai, where a further 143 persons tested positive, taking the tally of cases to 857. Pune registered four more cases, taking the district’s tally to 199, while three more cases were registered from Aurangabad district.
One case each was reported from Thane, Vasai-Virar and Mira-Bhayander, as well Sindhudurg and Yavatmal districts.
Akola district in Vidarbha registered its first case, while one new case was reported from Buldhana district.
With Pune district registering nearly 40 new cases on Wednesday, the city’s Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC) at Gultekdi will remain shut indefinitely till further notice from Friday onwards, said APMC administrator B.G. Deshmukh.
Masks compulsory
On Wednesday, Pune District Collector Naval Kishore had made the wearing of masks compulsory for citizens and government officials alike in Pune district as well.
This is the highest single-day spike in the number of deaths recorded from Pune, which also reported as many as 38 new cases today. More than 170 of the total number of cases were from urban and rural Pune, and the remaining 21 being from Pimpri-Chinchwad.
COVID-19 | Interactive map of confirmed coronavirus cases in India
The district has recorded more than 120 new cases and 13 deaths over a five-day period prompting authorities to completely seal off the eastern part of the city which includes a wide swathe from the RTO to Gultekdi.
In a bid to sternly enforce the stringent lockdown measures, hundreds of police personnel led by senior police authorities took out a ‘route march’ on Wednesday take to task any errant citizen moving about within the cordoned-off zones.
Similarly, the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation, too, has decided to seal-off four areas in the township beginning Wednesday.
Till date, a total 117 persons have been discharged while more than 4,400 persons had been placed in institutional quarantine facilities across the State.
According to health officials, at least 25 persons among the 1,300-odd people who had attended the Nizamuddin Tablighi Jamaat conclave have tested positive so far.
