Maharashtra: COVID-19 death toll tops 20,000; Recovery rate touches 70%

In a grim milestone, the death toll due to the Coronavirus outbreak in Maharashtra crossed 20,000 on Sunday after the state reported 288 new fatalities. After updating figures, the state health department noted that out of the 288 deaths, 233 are from the last 48 hours and 31 are from last week. The rest 24 deaths are from the period before last week. Maharashtra's case fatality rate (CFR) now stands at 3.36%, as against India's 1.94%.

Meanwhile, 11,111 new cases of COVID-19 were reported in the last 24 hours, propelling the state's COVID-19 tally to 5,95,865

The number of recovered patients rose by 8,837 in the same period, taking the aggregate of recovered cases to 4,17,123. The Recovery Rate in the state now stands at 70%, closing in on the national average of near 72%.

As of August 16, there are 1,58,395 active cases in Maharashtra, the highest of any other State in the country.

Currently, 10,53,897 people are under home quarantine and 38,203 people in institutional quarantine. Furthermore, out of 31,62,740 laboratory samples, 5,95,865 have been tested positive (18.84%) for COVID-19 until August 16.

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Situation in key districts

In the state capital Mumbai, 1,010 people were diagnosed with COVID-19 on Sunday, taking the aggregate to 1,28,726. As per the state health bulletin, India's financial capital has 17,825 active cases while 7,133 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 1,13,944, of which it has 20,288 active cases. The tally of active cases in Palghar meanwhile stands at 6,516 while it is 7,539 in Nagpur. Cases in Pune district have surged to 1,30,606, of which there are 41,020 active cases.

Lockdown to be lifted in stepwise manner

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has said the process of lifting the lockdown in the state would be done in a stepwise manner. The threat of COVID-19 still persists, Thackeray said on Saturday and added that he does not want a second wave of the deadly viral infection in the state. The Maharashtra government last month extended the lockdown in the state till August 31.

It is more important how to lift the lockdown than when to come out of it, Thackeray said in a video interaction with a team of doctors who are part of the task force set up by his government to combat COVID-19.

"Those who hurriedly lifted the lockdown had to impose it again. I don't want a second wave of coronavirus in the state," the chief minister said.

"The state government's 'Mission Begin Again' initiative is being implemented step-by-step. The momentum of 'chase the virus' campaign should not stop since the threat of the virus still persists and monsoon is still active in the state. We have to be careful about rain-related ailments as well," he said. 

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