Maharashtra reports 4,205 new Covid-19 cases; CM reviews situation

A day after breaching the 5,000-mark, Maharashtra reported 4,205 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, taking the overall count to 79,54,445, while the death toll increased to 1,47,896 with the addition of three fresh fatalities linked to the infection, the state health department said.

On Thursday, the state had logged 5,218 COVID-19 cases and one death.

Significantly, the number of active COVID-19 cases surpassed the 25,000-mark, indicating a widening gap between new and recovered coronavirus patients. A health department bulletin said 3,752 patients recovered in the last 24 hours, pushing up their total number to 77,81,232.

Maharashtra's active cases climbed to 25,317 from 24,867 on Thursday. Of these, 13,257 active cases are in Mumbai, followed by 5,789 in adjoining Thane district and 2,741 in Pune district. The bulletin, quoting the latest report of the Nagpur-based National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), said one patient of BA.5 variant, a woman, has been detected in Nagpur. The 27-year-old patient, fully vaccinated against COVID-19, tested positive on June 19 and showed mild symptoms. At present, she is asymptomatic and in home isolation, where her condition is stable, the report said.

With this, the tally of BA.4 and BA.5 COVID-19 variants found in the state has gone up to 26. Of these, Pune has reported 15 followed by five in Mumbai, four in Nagpur and two in Thane, the report said.

Maharashtra has a coronavirus recovery rate of 97.82 per cent, fatality rate of 1.85 per cent and positivity rate of 9.11 per cent.

As per the health department bulletin, out of the 4,205 new COVID-19 cases, the highest 3,354 were detected in the Mumbai administrative circle that includes the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, followed by Pune (516), Nagpur (87), Kolhapur (79), Nashik (65) Akola (41), Aurangabad (33) and Latur (30), among others. Of the three fresh COVID-19 deaths, two were reported from Mumbai and one from Thane city.

With 46,115 new coronavirus tests in the last 24 hours, the number of samples tested so far in Maharashtra rose to 8,17,93,876, as per the bulletin. The bulletin highlighted that Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray held a meeting with district collectors, municipal commissioners and police superintendents through video conferencing and reviewed the coronavirus situation in the backdrop of rising cases. The meeting was held a day after the daily COVID-19 case count crossed the 5,000-mark. Active cases in the state topped 25,000 on Friday from just 626 a couple of months ago. Lakhs of devotees of Lord Vitthal are walking towards the temple town of Pandharpur in western Maharashtra for the Ashadhi Ekadashi festival next month and this has given rise to concerns about possible spread of the infection. "Although the case rise is currently being seen mainly in five districts Mumbai, Thane, Pune, Palghar and Raigad - given the movement of people during the Ashadhi Wari, the possibility of increased transmission of COVID-19 cannot be denied," the bulletin said. The chief minister has instructed key officials to take necessary steps to avoid any sharp rise in the daily cases and said though mask use is not mandatory in the state, those participating in the Ashadhi Wari (yatra) and even others should wear face masks regularly, it said. Coronavirus figures of Maharashtra are as follows: Positive cases 79,54,445; fresh cases 4,205; death toll 1,47,896; recoveries 77,81,232; active cases 25,317; total tests 8,17,93,876.