State death toll rises to 1,897 after deadliest day yet claims 105 lives

2,190 new cases take COVID-19 tally near 57,000-mark

Maharashtra reported its highest single-day surge in COVID-19 deaths till date on Wednesday, with 105 fatalities taking the toll so far to 1,897, while another big spike of 2,190 cases saw its case tally rise to 56,948.

The number of active cases in the State has gone up to 37,125, with 964 patients being discharged to take the total to 17,918, State Health Department officials said.

Mumbai city alone reported 1,044 cases, as its tally reached 34,018 cases. As many as 32 of the deaths reported on Wednesday were from Mumbai, taking its toll to 1,097.

The surge in fresh cases in Thane in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region continued unabated, with more than 200 new cases taking the district’s tally to 3,558. Navi Mumbai similarly reported 140 new cases (tally 2,294).

While 16 deaths were reported from Thane district to take its count to 149, seven fatalities each were reported from Navi Mumbai and Raigad to take their respective tolls to 39 and 12.

Jalgaon reported 10 deaths to take its toll to 51. Nine deaths were reported from Pune district, while its tally has risen to 6, 614 with more than 130 fresh cases. While Pune’s toll, as per State figures, has risen to 291, the district authorities put it at 295. Six deaths were reported from Akola district as its toll mounted to 23, while four from Aurangabad took its count to 57. The Aurangabad district authorities, however, said the toll had gone up to 62.

Nashik reported three deaths to take its toll to 52 while fatalities were also reported from Solapur, Ahmednagar and Nagpur districts among other parts of Maharashtra.

“Of the deaths reported [in the State] on Wednesday, 39 occurred in the last couple of days while the remaining 66 are from April 21 to May 24. And 63% of them had high-risk co-morbidities such as diabetes, hypertension, asthma and heart disease,” said State Surveillance Officer, Dr. Pradeep Awate.

He said the patient doubling rate figure, which was 11.5 days in the last week, had improved to 14.7 days, while Maharashtra’s recovery rate stood at 31.5%.

Maharashtra has been reporting more than 2,000 cases each day since May 17, climaxing with its highest recorded single-day surge of 3,041 cases on May 24.

Aurangabad district in Marathwada saw a reduction in the number of cases with only 30 new ones being reported to take the district’s cumulative case tally to 1,360 in contrast with a daily surge of 60 cases a day in the last week, said authorities.

“Till date, 56,948 of the 4,03,976 laboratory samples have tested positive. Of the 32,42,160 laboratory tests done in the country, 12.4% tests were done in Maharashtra,” said Dr. Awate. He said there were 3,142 tests per million of the population being done in the State against the national figure of 2,363 tests per million of the population.

Dr. Awate said there are 2,684 active containment zones now.

“Presently, 5,82,701 persons across the State were in home quarantine and 37,761 were in institutional quarantine facilities,” he said.