Maharashtra’s daily Covid-19 tally sees slight dip at 58,924; Mumbai’s cases fall too – Hindustan Times

Maharashtra on Monday witnessed a slight dip in its daily tally of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) after 58,924 new cases were recorded in the last 24 hours, taking the caseload to nearly 3.9 million, according to the state health department’s daily bulletin. More than 52,400 people recovered while 351 succumbed to the disease and the total recoveries and deaths have gone up to 3,159,240 and 60,824 respectively, the bulletin showed.

The state capital Mumbai also recorded a fall after 7,381 people tested positive for the disease in the last 24 hours. The caseload in the city is at 586,867 and deaths have climbed to 12,412 of which 58 new were added in the last 24 hours.

This reduction in the daily cases of Maharashtra as well as Mumbai can be attributed to less number of tests conducted on Sunday, which is a holiday. Maharashtra tested 221,626 samples for Covid-19 in the last 24 hours while authorities in Mumbai conducted tests for 36,556 samples during the same period. On Saturday, Maharashtra and Mumbai tested 273,272 and 46,971 samples respectively.

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Maharashtra currently is the worst hit state from the pandemic across the country. The state government has said that there is severe shortage of beds, oxygen supply and essential Covid-19 drugs such as Remdesivir. Union health minister Dr Harsh Vardhan assured chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday that all these shortages will be taken care of while Union railways minister Piyush Goyal said on Sunday Maharashtra will be receiving the highest quantity of oxygen at 1,500 metric tonnes (MT).

Maharashtra, which is currently placed under prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the CrPC, might head towards a more stricter lockdown if the situation continues to worsen. State minister for social welfare Vijay Wadettiwar told news agency PTI on Monday that a decision on strict lockdown will be taken in the next two days as the present restrictions are not helping much to curb the spread of the disease.

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“The ongoing curfew is not helping in containing the spread of Covid-19 in the way it was expected. A decision is expected in connection with a strict lockdown in a day or two, Wadettiwar said adding the Maha Vikas Aghadi led government in Maharashtra will also study the week-long lockdown imposed by the Delhi government without taking any decision.