1328 deaths added to Maharashtra's COVID tally post-reconciliation; Fadnavis cries foul

In a major development on Tuesday, the Maharashtra government added 1328 additional casualties to the state's COVID-19 death toll. 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.

However, BJP leader and former Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis lashed out at the ruling MVA for this admission. He urged the government not to ignore this "criminal negligence" in the name of reconciliation of numbers. Alleging that these figures were suppressed for the last three months, he demanded strict action against all responsible for covering up the data. 

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50,554 active cases in Maharashtra

Maharashtra's COVID-19 tally rose to 1,10,744 after 2,786 new novel coronavirus cases were reported in the state on Monday, June 15. At present, there are 50,554 active cases in the state. With 5,071 COVID-19 patients discharged in the day, the number of recovered cases soared to 56,049. 178 deaths were reported on Monday. 95 of the deceased had high-risk co-morbidities such as diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, etc. Until now, a total of 4128 persons have died owing to COVID-19. 

So far, 6,69,994 samples have been tested for the novel coronavirus in 55 government labs and 42 private labs operational across the state. While 5,89,158 persons are under home quarantine, 28,084 others have been admitted to institutional quarantine centres. The COVID-19 recovery rate and fatality rate in Maharashtra stand at 50.61% and 3.7% respectively. 

Read: Pune Transport Body Workers Write To Maharashtra CM About Pay Cuts

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.