Maharashtra sees major spike with 3307 new COVID cases, recoveries fall to 1315 in 24 hrs

Seeing a continued spike in the number of Coronavirus (COVID-19), Maharashtra reported 3307 new cases on Wednesday and 114 new deaths. After its sudden surge in discharged cases, Maharashtra saw only 1315 recoveries taking the cured tally to 59,133. The state tally now stands at 1,16,752 cases and 5651 deaths.

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Maharashtra: 3307 new cases

The state's recovery rate fell  from 50.99% to  50.68%, while its fatality has soared to 4.85%. Maharashtra has 80,585 beds available in its 1555 quarantine facilities, with 27,572 people currently in it. The state has 55 government labs and 43 private labs which have tested 7,00,954 samples tested till date.

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Maharashtra adds 1328 deaths  

In a major embarrassment to the Udhhav Thackarey government, the state on Tuesday, added 1328 additional casualties to the state's COVID-19 death toll after reconciling the data.  This includes 862 deaths from Mumbai, 146 from Thane, 85 from Pune, 51 from Solapur, 34 from Jalgaon, 33 from Aurangabad, 28 from Nashik, 14 each from Raigad and Akola, 12 from Dhule, 11 from Palghar, 6 each from Satara and Amravati, 4 each from Sangli and Jalna, three each from Sindhudurg, Latur and Osmanabad, two each from Nanded and Buldhana and one each from Ahmednagar, Parbhani, Ratnagiri, Washim and Yavatmal. The state government stated that the reconciliation of COVID-19 death figures took place after it ordered an inquiry into all the novel coronavirus casualties since March 2020 and has stated that review will be done on a weekly basis to avoid lapses.

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Price for COVID-19 tests capped

The Maharashtra government capped the maximum price for COVID-19 tests and testing by collecting samples from home at Rs.2200 and Rs.2800 respectively. Explaining the rationale for this decision, state Health Minister Rajesh Tope stated that there was a demand to reduce the price of the test from several offices who wanted to test their employees before recommencing operations. Terming these prices as the lowest in the country, Tope opined that this would lead to increased testing by private labs. 

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Maharashtra's COVID crisis

Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray has clarified that the state government had not re-announced the lockdown and urged the people to follow the government guideline on safety and precautions against COVID-19. Moreover, the Railways has commenced plying local trains but only for the 'essential employees' - designated state govt employees and private healthcare workers. The Centre has asked the state to add additional ICU beds as 90% of the Mumbai's ICU beds were filled, to which the BMC chief has assured that 300 beds will be added within a week.