At least 18 security personnel posted in Malegaon and two senior officials of the Malegaon Municipal Corporation (MMC) tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday, even as Nashik district's cases surged past 750. Pune, Aurangabad and Nagpur districts also recorded a spurt in new cases.
According to sources, the two MMC officials were present at a meeting chaired by State Health Minister Rajesh Tope and Agriculture Minister Dada Bhuse (who represents the Malegaon Outer Assembly constituency), when reports of them testing positive came in, prompting them to leave immediately.
Mr. Tope was on a tour to review the situation in Malegaon, a major virus hotbed in north Maharashtra.
Meanwhile, authorities said that the 18 security personnel who tested positive, of whom 16 are policemen and two are jawans from the State Reserve Police Force (SRPF), were deployed for duty in Malegaon city.
Most of those affected are above 50 years old, and were among 128 security personnel who were screened.
The total tally in Nashik has reached 752 cases, including 34 fatalities. Over 620 of the cases are from Malegaon which has also recorded all COVID-19 deaths in the district so far.
More than 130 security personnel have tested positive in Nashik till now.
As many as 24 new cases and two more deaths — that of a 94-year-old man and a 56-year-old woman — were reported from Aurangabad city since Tuesday evening.
This takes the district’s cumulative tally to more than 700 and 17 deaths, all from Aurangabad city.
The new cases include that of an eight-month-old baby who tested positive.
Cases mount in Pune
Cases also continued to mount in Pune district with 126 new cases being reported since Tuesday to take the district’s total tally, including deaths and recoveries, to 3,258, said health officials.
The death toll in Pune district is currently 170.
Alongwith Pune’s total fatalities, the death toll in Pune division — which includes the districts of Satara, Sangli, Kolhapur and Solapur along with Pune — has risen to 193, with Solapur reporting 19 deaths, Satara district two, and one each in Kolhapur and Sangli.
“The total positive cases in Pune division stands at 3,742 of whom 2,043 are active. Of these, 128 cases are critical,” according to Pune Divisional Commissioner Dr. Deepak Mhaisekar.
Recoveries increase
On the positive side, the number of recovered people also increased with 1,358 patients across the district and 1,503 in the division (including Pune district), being discharged.
Nagpur district, too, reported 10 new cases to take its total tally to 314. Five of these are pregnant women, said authorities.
Nine of the 10 new cases were reported from Mominpura area and one from Satranjipura — the city’s virus hotspots — which account for more than 200 novel coronavirus cases.