Mumbai, (Samajweekly) Maharashtra recorded 35 new Covid-19 deaths – the second highest toll after 36 on May 2 – and cases continued to increase without respite touching 14,541, health officials said on the first day of lockdown 3.0.
With 35 fatalities, the state death toll shot up to 583 and the total number of Coronavirus patients increased to 14,541.
Of the total deaths, 18 were recorded in Mumbai – including 1 from Uttar Pradesh – taking the city toll to 361 and the number of Covid-19 positive patients in the city shot up to 9,310.
Dharavi alone recorded 42 new cases, taking the total in Asia’s biggest slum to 632 cases and 20 deaths.
Pune recorded 7 fresh fatalities, Akola 5, and Thane, Aurangabad, Solapur and Nanded, one each.
The dead comprised 22 men and 13 women, and nearly 70 per cent of them suffered from other serious ailments such as diabetes, hypertension, heart problems and asthma.
The Mumbai Metropolitan Region (Thane Division) continued to cause big worries with 390 Covid-19 deaths and 10,857 patients.
At least a dozen police officials, including 6 officials, reported positive in Mumbai on Monday.
Pune Division trails a distant second with 122 deaths and 2,226 patients.
The next area of concern is Nashik Division with 30 deaths and 531 positive cases, followed by Akola Division with 17 deaths and 229 patients and finally Aurangabad Division with 11 deaths and 375 patients.
Given the grim scenario, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray issued stern orders to the state administration to take all possible measures and convert Maharashtra into a Green Zone by May-end.
The state government also announced a slew of cost cutting measures to tide over the massive financial losses likely to be accrued due to the Covid-19 crises since the past nearly two months.
On the positive side, 350 fully cured patients returned home on Monday, taking the number of those discharged to 2,465.
Meanwhile, the number of people in home quarantine increased from 181,382 to 198,042 and those in institutional quarantine fell from 13,158 to 13,006 today, while and the state’s containment zones increased from 997 to 1,026.
Coinciding with lockdown 3.0, Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh issued fresh orders from May 1 debarring all people from stepping out from 8 p.m. to 7 a.m,, except those on essential services, till May 17.
As many as 10,820 teams have carried out a survey of a population of around 47.3 lakhs in the state till date.
