Mumbai News

Maharashtra sees record jump in daily Covid deaths at 568; Mumbai’s new cases remain below 8,000 – Hindustan Times

Maharashtra on Wednesday recorded the highest ever-single day spike in deaths due to the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) with 568 succumbing in the last 24 hours, according to the state health department’s bulletin. As many as 67,468 new Covid-19 cases were reported on Wednesday, taking the caseload to over 4 million which includes 61,911 deaths, 3,268,449 recoveries, the bulletin showed.

The state capital Mumbai, however, once again reported less than 8,000 cases on Wednesday (7,654 to be exact) which took the total number of cases in the city to 601,713. More than 12,500 people have died so far in Mumbai with 62 deaths more reported in the last 24 hours.

Maharashtra is currently the worst-hit state from the Covid-19 pandemic across India. According to the Union health ministry’s update on Wednesday morning, Maharashtra along with 11 other states such as Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi etc is witnessing an upwards trajectory in the number of daily new cases. Maharashtra is also the highest contributor with regard to the country’s daily death’s to, the health ministry’s update said.

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The state’s health infrastructure is in severe crisis amid the massive spike in cases and deaths. Despite the introduction of several measures to contain the spread of the Covid-19 disease such as night curfew, weekend lockdown and prohibitory orders under Section 144, the figures are not coming down and Maharashtra is staring at a complete lockdown to break the chain of transmission.

On Tuesday, health minister Rajesh Tope along with several other ministers in the Maharashtra cabinet such as Eknath Shinde and Aslam Sheikh, requested chief minister Uddhav Thackeray to impose a strict lockdown in the state. A decision in this regard will be announced by Thackeray soon.

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The state witnessed a heart wrenching incident on Wednesday after 24 Covid-19 patients of the Dr Zakir Hussain Municipal Hospital in the Nashik district died as the supply of oxygen was interrupted due to a leakage in one of the storage tankers. CM Thackeray has ordered a high level probe into the incident and said those responsible will not be spared, according to a statement from the chief minister’s office (CMO). He has also announced an ex-gratia of 5 lakhs for the families of the deceased.

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Source: https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/mumbai-news/maharashtra-sees-record-jump-in-daily-covid-19-deaths-at-568-67-468-new-cases-101619016479574.html