Maharashtra Governor unveils austerity measures to direct resources for COVID-19 relief

On Thursday, May 28, Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari announced numerous austerity measures to make more resources available for COVID-19 relief measures. First, he stated while ongoing works would be completed, no new capital works shall be undertaken in the Raj Bhavan. Thereafter, he revealed that the Independence Day function at Raj Bhavan, Pune shall be cancelled. Also, there will be no new recruitment in Raj Bhavan until further orders. 

Moreover, the practice of offering gifts, mementos and bouquets to VVIPs shall be discontinued. The proposal for the purchase of new car for the Raj Bhavan has been deferred. To avoid any expenses on travel, the Governor will conduct meetings and interactions with Vice-Chancellors and other officers via video conference. These measures are expected to save nearly 10-15% of the Raj Bhavan's budget for the current financial year. 

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Patient doubling rate increases

With 2,190 individuals testing positive for the novel coronavirus in Maharashtra on Wednesday, May 27, the state's COVID-19 tally surged to 56,948. There are 37,125 active COVID-19 cases in the state. A total of 964 novel coronavirus patients were discharged in the day taking the number of recovered to 17,918. Thus, the state's recovery rate stands at 31.5%. 105 deaths- 32 from Mumbai, 16 from Thane, 10 from Jalgaon, 9 from Pune, 7 each from Raigad and Navi Mumbai, 6 from Akola, 4 from Aurangabad, three each from Nashik and Solapur, two from Satara and one each from Ahmednagar, Nagpur, Nandurbar, Panvel, Vasai-Virar and Gujarat were reported on Wednesday, propelling Maharashtra's death toll to 1897. 66 of the aforesaid deceased had high-risk co-morbidities such as diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, etc.

There are 2,684 active containment zones in the state currently. Surveillance of 68.06 lakh population was undertaken by 17,119 surveillance squads. So far, 4,03,976 laboratory samples have been tested. According to the Public Health Department of the Maharashtra government, the patient doubling rate in the state has increased to 14.7 days on Wednesday as compared to 11.5 days in the previous week. Furthermore, 12.4% of the total laboratory tests done in India (32,42,160) have been done in Maharashtra. The state has conducted 3,142 tests per million population as against the national average of 2,363 tests per million population. While 5,82,701 persons are under home quarantine, 37,761 others have been admitted to institutional quarantine centres. 

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