Maharashtra: COVID-19 death toll touches 23,000; new cases rise by 14,888

With 14,888 people testing positive for Coronavirus in the last 24 hours, Maharashtra's tally of confirmed cases rose to 7,18,711 on Tuesday, the state health department said.

The number of recovered patients rose by 7,637 in the same period, taking the aggregate of recovered cases to 5,22,427. The Recovery Rate in the state now stands at 72.69%, as against the national average of 76.30%.

The state's Coronavirus death toll reached 23,089 on Wednesday after 295 patients succumbed to the highly infectious respiratory disease. After updating figures, the state health department noted that out of those 295 deaths reported today, 211 are from the last 48 hours and 58 are from last week. Rest 26 deaths are from the period before last week. Out of these 26 deaths, 6 in Pune, 4 in Thane, 3 in Solapur, 3 in Nagpur, 3 in Nashik, 2 in Ratnagiri, 2 in Kolhapur, 1 in Ahmednagar, 1 in Palghar, and 1 in Yavatmal. Maharashtra's case fatality rate (CFR) now stands at 3.21%, as against India's 1.84%.

As of August 26, there are 1,72,873 active cases in Maharashtra, the highest of any other State in the country.

Currently, 12,68,924 people are under home quarantine and 33,644 people in institutional quarantine. Furthermore, out of 37,94,027 laboratory samples, 7,18,711 have been tested positive (18.94%) for COVID-19 until August 26.

With ever-increasing infections, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has appealed to people to remain extra careful during festivals and rains in view of the COVID-19 pandemic. "The state government has already relaxed many lockdown restrictions. We have also developed an adequate healthcare infrastructure in the state. However, we need to be more cautious to stop the spread of coronavirus during festivals and rain," he said.

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Situation in key districts

In the state capital Mumbai, 1,854 people were diagnosed with COVID-19 on Wednesday, taking the aggregate to 1,39,537. As per the state health bulletin, India's financial capital has 18,979 active cases while 7,505 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 1,26,042, of which it has 20,021 active cases. The tally of active cases in Palghar meanwhile stands at 6,686 while it is 9,688 in Nagpur. Cases in Pune district have surged to 1,58,269, of which there are 44,003 active cases.

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