The number of COVID-19 cases registered its highest single-day surge of 120 new cases on Monday, taking the overall numbers to 868 positive cases. There were reports of seven deaths, taking the toll to 52.
Four of the seven deaths were reported from Mumbai city, while the others were from the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, Thane and Vasai-Virar.
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Of the 120 new cases, Mumbai accounted for more than 60 cases in 24 hours to touch 526, while Pune city witnessed an increase of 41 fresh cases, to take the tally in the district beyond 140. Fresh cases were reported from Nashik, Kolhapur, Satara and Ahmednagar districts.
Worried by the turn of events, Pune district authorities have decided to completely seal-off certain parts of the city including areas near the Pune railway station, Bhavani Peth, and Kasewadi, among other parts identified as high-risk, and ‘infection-spreading’ clusters.
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Pune areas sealed
Pune Municipal Corporation commissioner Shekhar Gaikwad, said, “Every positive case occurring within the PMC limits was being charted on a digital map. Accordingly, we have decided to seal off the area between Gultekdi and Regional Transport Office (RTO) as 37 positive cases have been identified in this stretch. The Kondhwa area is another cluster.”
He said no one would be permitted to enter or leave the sealed areas and only vehicles carrying essentials would be permitted inside these areas after being thoroughly checked.
On Sunday, three deaths were reported from Pune city taking the total number of deaths to five as authorities expressed concern over the virus spreading to slum clusters.
The number of COVID-19 positive cases in the district has more than doubled — from 60 to 141 — in just four days.
Second case in Nashik
Nashik, which had only one case till now, recorded its second case after a 44-year-old man, who returned from Delhi and is said to have come into contact with attendees of the Tablighi Jamaat event, tested positive.
In another worrying development, more than 50 people believed to have come into contact with three Covid-19 infected persons from Latur district (in the Marathwada region), who had attended the Tablighi Jamaat conclave, have now been placed in institutional quarantine facilities in Jalna district.
On Sunday, 25 people from three families in Jalna’s Ambad tehsil were placed in isolation facilities after it came to light that they had come into contact with three people from Latur who tested positive.
Today, 30 more have been placed in isolation as a precautionary measure.
Islampur patients recovering
A glimmer among the ever-surging number of cases in the State is the fact that the four members of a family in Islampur in Sangli district, who had tested positive last month, are now on the path to recovery after their repeat samples came back negative, said Islampur MLA and Maharashtra Minister Jayant Patil.
The four people had returned via Mumbai airport on March 13 from Saudi Arabia after completing Haj. Since then, disregarding ‘home quarantine’ precautions, they infected no less than 21 other people, most of them their own relatives, to emerge as one of the largest cases of cluster infection.
With 25 cases being reported from Islampur, the Sangli district authorities had sealed-off the tehsil while observing a stern, three-day lockdown last month.
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