Maharashtra reported a staggering surge of 552 new coronavirus positive cases on Sunday — the State’s highest single-day surge yet — as its cumulative tally rose to 4,200 cases, while 12 more deaths were reported across the State, taking the death toll to 223.
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Six of these deaths were reported from Mumbai city, while four fatalities were reported from Malegaon in Nashik, which is fast emerging as north Maharashtra’s virus hotspot. One death each was reported from Solapur district (the city’s second death), and Karjat-Jamkhed in Ahmednagar district.
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“We have yet to receive information on whether the Malegaon fatalities had any comorbidities. Of six of the remaining eight deaths, 75% had high-risk co-morbidities such as diabetes, hypertension, asthma and heart disease,” informed State Surveillance Officer Dr. Pradeep Awate.
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A silver lining came in the form of the 142 patients who were discharged from hospitals today, taking the total discharged till date, according to health officials, to 502.
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Mumbai city again reported the overwhelming majority of new cases — as many as 456 — taking the city’s tally to 2,724 with 132 deaths. Mumbai accounts for nearly 70% of Maharashtra’s death toll and 25% of India’s COVID-19 death tally.
Malegaon reported an alarming spike of 33 fresh cases to take the town’s tally to 78, with six deaths.
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Nine cases were also reported from Nagpur city, taking the total number of cases in the district to 72, said district authorities.
“All the new cases were contacts of a 68-year-old man who died on April 5 and was the district’s first fatality,” said Nagpur Municipal Commissioner Tukaram Munde.
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He said, till date, 192 contacts (including kin of the deceased) had been traced, of whom no less than 37 had tested positive so far. The test results of 144 of these contacts were still awaited.
Pune tapers
In contrast, after reporting a sharp rise in cases for the past two days, Pune district reported a relatively low spike of 20 cases taking the district’s tally to 611 cases of which 563 were from Pune city and the rural parts, and 48 cases were from Pimpri-Chinchwad.
The district’s death toll stands at 50, with no new death reported on Monday, as per data given by the State health officials.
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While Pimpri-Chinchwad reported three new coronavirus positive cases, the fact that one of them was a 25-year-old woman has set alarm bells ringing, prompting Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) Commissioner Shravan Hardikar to seal-off the Pimple Gurav area from where the case was reported.
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“We are going to be extremely strict in the enforcement of lockdown measures in the next seven days so as to preclude any spread of information from Pune city, which has the majority of the positive cases in the district,” said Mr. Hardikar.
APMC remains shut
Despite the relaxation on some essential services from Monday onwards, Pune city’s Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC) at Gultekdi — the main wholesale market of the city — has decided to remain shut for a further eight days owing to the surging number of cases in the Gultekdi area and its surroundings, said APMC administrator B.J. Deshmukh.
“Currently, 87,254 people across the State are in home quarantine and 6,743 persons in institutional quarantine. There are 368 active containment zones in the State currently. As many as 6,359 surveillance squads have screened over 23.97 lakh of the State’s population till date,” said Dr. Awate.
