The COVID-19 pandemic continued its relentless upward surge in Maharashtra as the State reported a spike of 597 new cases on Wednesday to take its cumulative tally to 9,915, while 32 new deaths saw the total death toll rising to 432.

According to figures given by the State Health Department, 26 of these deaths were reported from Mumbai city, three from Pune city, and one each from Panvel and the urban pockets of Solapur and Aurangabad.

A measure of hopeful news was found in the 205 cases who were discharged on Wednesday, taking the total number of those recovered in the State till date to 1,593, as per State Surveillance Officer Dr. Pradeep Awate.

With the new deaths, Mumbai’s death toll now stands at 270 — accounting for more than 60% of the State’s death tally, while that of Pune district has risen to 85 of which 79 have been reported from Pune city, three from the rural areas in the district, while the rest are from Pimpri-Chinchwad.

Solapur district, which comes under the Pune division, has now reported six deaths while Aurangabad has recorded seven deaths till now.

“Of the deaths reported, 56% had high-risk co-morbidities such as diabetes, hypertension, asthma and heart disease,” informed Dr. Awate.

Of the 600-odd cases, Mumbai reported the overwhelming majority — as many as 475 — as they city’s cumulative tally shot to 6,644.

Pune district authorities reported a surge of at least 60 fresh cases in Pune city as the district’s cumulative active cases rose to 1,238. However, the surge was considerably less than Tuesday’s spike when 143 new cases were recorded.

Pune district has witnessed a rise of nearly 300 new active coronavirus cases in over three days.

“A high-level multidisciplinary Central team under the leadership of Dr. A. K. Gadpayle is on a visit to the Pune Division to review COVID-19 prevention and control activities and visited Solapur district today, where they reviewed the implementation of containment activities. The sudden increase of patients in Solapur [which has seven positive cases], preventive measures and issues of workers in the informal sector were the key issues discussed. In the 20 containment zones in Solapur, a total 174 surveillance squads are screening 97,000 people daily,” Dr. Awate said.

Meanwhile, a steady rise in cases was also witnessed in other areas of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (excepting Mumbai city), with Thane district reporting 30 new cases to take its tally to 419, while Navi Mumbai reported a surge of 20 new cases to take its tally to 162.

As Nagpur city’s case tally rose to 132, a unit of State Reserve Personnel Force (SRPF) was stationed in the city’s Satranjipura area — which has reported the maximum cases — to augment local police's efforts in contact tracing and reining in the spread of the contagion.

Aurangabad district in Marathwada witnessed a surge of 15 new positive cases to take the tally to 105.

“There are 723 active containment zones in the State currently, which have screened more than 40 lakh persons till date. Presently, 1,62,860 people across the State were in home quarantine and 10,813 persons were in institutional quarantine facilities,” Dr. Awate informed.