Maharashtra’s Covid-19 tally past 6.15 L-mark; CM asks people to avoid crowding during Ganeshotsav
There are 615,477 Covid-19 positive cases now including 1,56,608 active cases, according to the state health department. With 422 more deaths reported on Tuesday, the toll has risen to 20,687.
Maharashtra’s Covid-19 tally on Tuesday went past 6.15 lakh with 11,119 new infections reported in the past 24 hours. The worst-affected state in the country had crossed the six lakh-mark a day earlier. With ever-increasing infections, chief minister Uddhav Thackeray appealed to people to follow Covid-19 guidelines during the forthcoming Ganeshotsav festival.
There are 615,477 Covid-19 positive cases now including 1,56,608 active cases, according to the state health department. With 422 more deaths reported on Tuesday, the toll has risen to 20,687.
With 9,356 patients declared cured of the coronavirus disease during the day, the total number of recoveries in the state have risen to 437,870 while the number of those tested has gone up to 32, 64, 384.
After crossing the grim six lakh-mark, the state has overtaken South Africa, the fifth worst-hit country globally. South Africa had 589,886 cases as on Tuesday evening, according to the website worldometers dot info. India is at number three spot with only USA and Brazil ahead of it in terms of the total number of virus cases.
Maharashtra had reported its first Covid-19 case on March 9 and it took 162 days for the infections to cross the 600,000 mark.
According to health experts, the main reason for continuing surge in infections is the rise in cases in semi-urban and rural areas since the easing of lockdown restrictions.
“Distribution of cases started soon after the state opted for unlocking the restrictions. Before that, cases used to be reported only from urban areas but now it [infection] has spread to semi-urban and rural areas. The overall cases are also increasing in an accelerated fashion,” said Dr Subhash Salunkhe, a public health expert who heads the state government’s communicable diseases prevention control and technical committee.
Meanwhile, state capital Mumbai recorded 931 new Covid-19 cases on Tuesday, taking its count to 1,30, 410 while the death toll rose to 7,222 with 49 more fatalities reported.
Keeping in view the continuing rise in infections, chief minister Uddhav Thackeray has appealed to the people to avoid crowding during the forthcoming Ganeshotsav festival and follow guidelines on the height of idols and their immersion. The festival will begin on August 22.
“The forthcoming Ganeshotsav which comes against the backdrop of Covid-19 crisis should be celebrated peacefully, keeping social responsibility in mind,” Thackeray was quoted as saying in an official statement, reports PTI.
He also instructed the authorities to increase testing for the disease, control test charges and ensure that test reports are made available at the earliest.
(With inputs from PTI)
