Maharashtra COVID tally soars to 3 lakh with record single-day spike; Mumbai past 1 lakh

Posting a grim milestone, Maharashtra crossed three lakh Coronavirus cases after a record 8,348 people were diagnosed with the disease in the last 24 hours, state health department data revealed on Saturday. The tally of confirmed cases now stands at 3,00,937. Cases in capital Mumbai has also breached one-lakh mark.

If Maharashtra were to be considered a nation, it would now be the world's 10th hardest-hit country in terms of COVID-19 cases after surpassing the figure of Britain, as per data compiled by global coronavirus tracking portal worldometer.

The death toll due to COVID-19 rose to 11,596 after 144 patients succumbed to the illness in the last 24 hours.

In a positive development, the state saw a record 5306 patients recover from the respiratory illness caused by the novel Coronavirus in the same period, thereby taking its tally to 1,65,663. As of July 18, there are 1,23,377 active cases in Maharashtra.

In the state capital Mumbai, 1,186 people were diagnosed with COVID-19 on Saturday, taking the aggregate to 1,00,350. As per the state health bulletin, India's financial capital has 23,917 active cases while 5,650 patients have died. For some time 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. Overall, Mumbai's doubling rate at 52 days is higher than the national average of 21 days.

Meanwhile, the total number of cases in neighbouring Thane district touched 73,289, of which it has 37,295 active cases, the highest in India for an urban district. Cases in Pune surged past 51,000, of which there are 31,380 active cases. The tally of active cases in Palghar meanwhile stands at 5,091 while it is 1,030 in Nagpur.

The state health department said the recovery rate in Maharashtra is 55.05% while the case fatality rate is 3.85%. Currently, 7,40,884 people are under home quarantine and 45,552 people in institutional quarantine. Furthermore, out of 15,22,564 laboratory samples, 3,00,937 have been tested positive (19.76%) for COVID-19 until July 18.

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Uddhav keeps restrictions in place

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has reiterated that religious, social, and political gatherings will remain prohibited in the state in view of the pandemic situation. His statement came ahead of the Bakri Eid and Ganesh Chaturthi festivals.

The CM has called for replication of the world-renowned 'Dharavi Model' of COVID-19 containment elsewhere in Maharashtra during his virtual meeting with district collectors and municipal commissioners.

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