Mumbai streets near Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus wear a deserted look during weekend lockdown. (File)
Amid soaring Covid-19 cases, the Maharashtra government has imposed Section 144 imposed across the state. Besides, the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government is mulling imposing a strict lockdown in the entire state to deal with the situation. According to NCP leader and state minister Chhagan Bhujbal, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray will announce a decision about lockdown on Wednesday.
"We have made all the efforts to minimise the COVID-19 figures. He will announce the decision (to impose lockdown) on Wednesday after finalising a detailed Standard Operating Procedure," Bhujbal, the Food and Civil Supplies minister, said.
"We may have to impose restrictions on the local train movement in Mumbai too, he added.
Covid-19 cases shot up again in Maharashtra on Tuesday with the state reporting its highest ever death toll with a spike in the number of active cases. The state's fatalities jumped from the previous high of 515 (September 15, 2020) to a new peak of 519 on Tuesday. With this, the state's overall death toll shot up to 61,343, the worst in the country.
After a record high of 68,631 new cases notched on April 18, Maharashtra on Tuesday reported 62,097 new cases, up from Monday's 58,924, taking its overall tally to 39,60,359.
On a positive note, new cases in Mumbai dropped from 7,381 on Monday to 7,192 on Tuesday - as its overall tally shot up to 594,059, 16 days after the city had reported its highest daily spike of 11,206 cases on April 4. With 34 deaths, the total fatalities in the country's commercial capital went up to 12,446, the highest in a single city in the country.
On the brighter side, a total of 54,224 fully cured persons returned home, taking the total number of recoveries to 32,13,464, while the recovery rate slightly improved from 81.04 per cent on Monday to 81.14 per cent now. The fatality rate again dropped from 1.56 per cent a day earlier to 1.55 per cent on Tuesday, and the number of active cases increased to 683,856.
The Mumbai Circle - comprising Mumbai, Thane, Palghar and Raigad districts - recorded a spike of 16,202 new cases, considerably lower than the peak of 19,953 (April 11), taking up its tally to 12,35,843, while 115 deaths mounted its death toll to 21,907.
Of the day's 519 total fatalities due to the contagion, Solapur led the chart with 58 deaths, followed by 51 in Palghar, 50 in Nashik, 34 in Mumbai, 31 in Pune, 28 in Nanded, 26 in Ahmednagar, 23 in Nagpur, 19 in Aurangabad, 17 in Dhule, 16 each in Raigad, Nandurbar, Beed and Bhandara, 14 in Thane, 13 in Amravati, 12 in Osmanabad, 11 in Sangli, 9 in Latur, 8 each in Sindhudurg, Wardha and Chandrapur, 7 in Jalgaon, 6 each in Parbhani, Akola and Gondia, 4 in Satara, 2 each in Kolhapur and Washim, besides 2 outsiders.
Meanwhile, the number of people sent to home isolation increased from 37,43,968 on Monday to 38,76,998 now, while those shunted to institutional quarantine went up from 27,081 to 27,690 on Tuesday.
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