In a first, Maharashtra records over 10,000 COVID cases in a day;active cases at 1,36,980 

In a first, Maharashtra recorded more than 10,000 COVID-19 cases in a day, propelling the state's novel coronavirus tally on Wednesday, July 22 to 3,37,607. A total of 10,576 new novel coronavirus cases were reported. At present, there are 1,36,980 active cases in the state. With 5,552 COVID-19 patients discharged in the day, the number of recovered soared to 1,87,769.

280 deaths- 58 from Mumbai, 39 from Pune, 29 from Thane, 27 from Aurangabad, 18 from Pimpri-Chinchwad, 16 from Kolhapur, 12 from Solapur, 9 from Jalgaon, 7 each from Mira-Bhayandar and Nashik, 6 each from Ahmednagar and Kalyan-Dombivali, 4 each from Vasai-Virar and Sangli, three each from Nagpur, Akola, Nanded, Latur, Ratnagiri, Navi Mumbai, Bhiwandi and Panvel, two each from Ulhasnagar, Satara and Parbhani and one each from Buldhana, Osmanabad, Jalna, Hingoli, Nandurbar, Raigad and Palghar were reported on Wednesday. 

Until now, a total of 12,556 persons have died owing to COVID-19. So far, 16,87,213 samples have been tested for the novel coronavirus in labs operational across the state. While 8,58,121 persons are under home quarantine, 44,975 others have been admitted to institutional quarantine centres. The COVID-19 positivity rate, recovery rate, and fatality rate in Maharashtra stands at 20%, 55.62%, and 3.72% respectively. 

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Fadnavis' COVID review visits targeted?

In a significant move on Tuesday, a Government Resolution was issued in Maharashtra restricting government officials from attending meetings organized by the Leader of Opposition. This comes in the wake of former CM and LoP Devendra Fadnavis's statewide tour where he visited many cities plagued by the COVID-19 crisis. During these visits, he often reviewed the situation along with administrative officials. 

The GR specifies that only Ministers have the right to call officials for meetings, have discussions with them, and give them orders. At the same time, the state government has mooted another solution to resolve the pressing problems of the people. The district collector has been advised to demand the list of pending works in advance. Every month, a day will be set aside to convene a meeting in this regard for which the concerned MLA shall be invited.

This move attracted ire of BJP, who demanded an immediate withdrawal of the GR. Speaking on the controversy, BJP MLA Ram Kadam mentioned that Fadnavis was touring the nook and corner of Maharashtra to help the people, something that the state Ministers had failed to do. According to him, this was the MVA government's ploy to ensure that their alleged poor handling of the COVID-19 situation does not draw public attention. 

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