Maharashtra COVID-19 cases zoom by a record 14,492; Recovery Rate nears national average

With 14,492 people testing positive for Coronavirus, Maharashtra reported the highest jump in COVID-19 cases thus far, taking the tally of confirmed cases to 6,43,289.

The number of recovered patients rose by 12,243 in the same period, taking the aggregate of recovered cases to 4,59,124. The Recovery Rate in the state now stands at 71.37%, close to the national average of 73.91%.

The state's Coronavirus death toll reached 21,359 on Thursday after 326 patients succumbed to the highly infectious respiratory disease. After updating figures, the state health department noted that out of those 326 deaths reported today, 231 are from the last 48 hours and 63 are from last week. The rest 32 deaths are from the period before last week. Out of these 32 deaths, 14 occurred in Pune, 8 in Kolhapur, 4 in Thane district, 2 in Aurangabad, 2 in Jalgaon, 1 in Nashik, and 1 in Sangli. Maharashtra's case fatality rate (CFR) now stands at 3.32%, as against India's 1.90%.

As of August 20, there are 1,62,491 active cases in Maharashtra, the highest of any other State in the country.

Currently, 11,76,261 people are under home quarantine and 37,639 people in institutional quarantine. Furthermore, out of 34,14,809 laboratory samples, 6,43,289 have been tested positive (18.84%) for COVID-19 until August 20.

With ever-increasing infections, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had appealed to people to follow COVID-19 guidelines during the forthcoming Ganeshotsav festival. “The forthcoming Ganeshotsav which comes against the backdrop of the COVID-19 crisis should be celebrated peacefully, keeping social responsibility in mind,” Thackeray was quoted as saying in an official statement.

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Situation in key districts

In the state capital Mumbai, 1,275 people were diagnosed with COVID-19 on Thursday, taking the aggregate to 1,32,822. As per the state health bulletin, India's financial capital has 18,172 active cases while 7,314 patients have died. For over a month now, Mumbai has reported less than 2,000 cases a day while the number of tests has remained fairly progressive, a sign that the outbreak is easing.

Meanwhile, the total number of cases in neighbouring Thane district touched 1,18,776, of which it has 20,133 active cases. The tally of active cases in Palghar meanwhile stands at 6,345 while it is 8,428 in Nagpur. Cases in Pune district have surged to 1,41,056, of which there are 40,962 active cases.

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