A senior member of the Maharashtra government's COVID-19 task force has tested positive for coronavirus, a health official said on Thursday.
He had been admitted to hospital last week. The task force of nine senior doctors was formed on April 13 in view of the increasing number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the state, especially in Mumbai.

Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope on Thursday ruled out community transmission of COVID-19 in the state. "I think there is no community spread of coronavirus in Maharashtra. The state government has been able to trace almost every COVID-19 patient and his or her source of infection. Hence, in my opinion, there is no community spread in the state," he said while talking to reporters in Mumbai.

While disposing of a batch of pleas seeking various reliefs for prisoners in view of the Covid-19 outbreak in jails across Maharashtra, the Bombay High Court on Thursday accepted assurances made by the state government and directed it to conduct random Covid-19 tests of inmates as per requirement. The Prison authorities are directed to refer for testing any inmate who shows any symptoms for Covid-19. The Court also asked the prisons authorities to notify details of nearly 35 temporary jails it has formed across nearly 27 districts, which are also to be used as makeshift quarantine or Covid-19 care centres on its website.

The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry has reacted to the unlock 2.0 notification by the government. Read below:

Reviewing the pandemic situation in the city, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has declared 109 micro containment zones, by adding 50 new areas while modifying 24 zones and deleting 15 previous zones, while shrinking the size of the containment zones.

On June 15, the PMC had declared 73 containment zones and later added B T Kawade road to take the tally to 24 containment zone. The civic administration after noticing the surge in the Covid19 patients in other parts of the city has redefined the containment zone.

“The PMC has declared 109 containment zones as infectious area based on the spread of the viral infection. This would continue till further orders,” said municipal commissioner Shekhar Gaikwad. He said that the Assistant Municipal Commissioner of the respective ward office and Incident Commander would immediately seal the specific area, building or housing society in the containment zone based on the Covid19 patients in the premise. -- reports Ajay Jadhav

The pace of testing has picked up in these municipal corporation areas, as the number of cases in Mumbai stabilises. Thane Municipal Corporation was testing 700 to 800 samples a day until a month ago. Now it performs 1,000 to 1,100 tests per day. “We plan to touch 3,000 in a week,” said Commissioner Vipin Sharma. The testing strength has improved by over 40 per cent in Thane city over a month.

Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation used to test around 170 to 200 samples each day until May end. In a month, it has scaled up to 250 to 300 tests per day. While Mira Bhayander is now performing 350 to 400 tests per day, Bhiwandi Nizampur Corporation is testing 130 to 150 daily.

Panvel, meanwhile, is conducting 150 tests per day, while it has the capacity to perform 250 tests. “Until a month ago, we performed 70 to 80 tests daily. In one month, we have conducted over 4,000 tests. We are also trying to start conducting rapid antigen tests,” said Deputy Municipal Commissioner Sanjay Shinde.

The increased movement of people post lockdown relaxation on June 3 led to an increase in the number of cases in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region. In Mira Bhayander, where 3,592 cases have been recorded, Deputy Mayor Hasmukh Gehlot said, “People travel to Mumbai from here for work, resulting in a spike in cases. Of the total infected, 60 to 70 per cent had travelled to Mumbai.”

In Panvel, where 2,318 cases have been recorded – a jump from 499 since May 30 – municipal corporation health officer Dr Sunil Nakhate said, “People have been started travelling to Mumbai for a month now. Movement has also increased locally. This has led to a rise in cases.”

By Wednesday, five municipal corporations of Mumbai’s satellite cities – Thane, Mira Bhayander, Kalyan Dombivali, Navi Mumbai and Panvel – have announced a 10-day lockdown following a spike in Covid-19 in their areas. Mumbai, meanwhile, has been maintaining a steady pace in reporting fresh daily cases. Tabassum Barnagarwala reports why these municipal corporations have been forced to announce the lockdown.

What has necessitated the lockdown in these cities?

Between May 31 and June 30, Mumbai has registered a 94 per cent increase in Covid-19 cases. In its satellite cities, however, the increase has been far more exponential. Thane has witnessed a 166 per cent increase, Panvel 364 per cent, Mira Bhayander 414 percent and Kalyan Dombivali 469 per cent.

The municipal corporations of Navi Mumbai and Panvel will enforce complete lockdown from July 3 midnight. "We want to break the chain of coronavirus infection. People working in essential services will be exempted from the lockdown and will be allowed to move out for work," KDMC Commissioner Vijay Suryavanshi said. A TMC official said inter-city bus services, auto-rickshaws, taxis and app-based cabs will not be allowed to operate. "Medical emergencies are exempted. A patient can be accompanied by only one person in a cab or auto-rickshaw, he said. Banks, ATMs, IT, ITeS, India Post, internet and data services and medical shops will be exempted from the lockdown, he said.

A 10-day complete lockdown has been enforced from Thursday in Thane and two other civic administration limits adjoining Mumbai city to contain the spread of coronavirus, officials said. Essential services and medical emergencies are exempted from the lockdown, while inter-city buses, autorickshaws and taxis will not be allowed to operate in these civic limits, they said.

The Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC), Kalyan Dombivali Municipal Corporation (KDMC) and Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation, all part of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), jointly decided on the complete lockdown for next 10 days in view of the rising number of COVID-19 cases in these areas, the officials said. The lockdown came into force from 7 am on Thursday and will continue till 7 am on July 12, they said.

The only celebration at Lalbaug this year will be at Peru Chawl, the historic settlement from where Mumbai’s most popular Ganpati pandal rose.

On Wednesday, the Lalbaugcha Raja Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav cancelled its festivities, which were due to begin on August 22, citing the Covid-19 pandemic. The mandal instead announced a 10-day awareness campaign for cured patients to donate plasma and a blood donation drive at its office in the chawl — where it all began.

Local fishermen and street vendors living in the chawl, who hawked their wares in the open, had set up the mandal in 1934 after succeeding in a two-year-long effort to persuade their landlord Rajabai Tayyabali to set aside a plot to build a permanent market.

Days after it issued orders asking people to refrain from travelling more than 2 km from their homes for non-essential activities, exempting office-goers and those facing medical emergency, the Mumbai Police on Wednesday asked residents to restrict their movements to their “neighbourhood” till July 15.

Meanwhile, a 10-day lockdown was announced in Navi Mumbai and Panvel, starting from the midnight of July 3. On Tuesday, the municipal corporations of Thane, Mira Bhayander and Kalyan Dombivali had announced a complete lockdown for 10 days in lieu of the rising number of Covid-19 cases in their areas. With this, all satellite cities adjoining Mumbai will witness lockdown.

According to the order issued by the Mumbai Police, residents visiting markets, beauty parlours, barber shops and saloons, as well as going out for outdoor physical activity, should restrict their movement to their neighbourhood.

India reported 434 deaths and 19,148 COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours. With this, the total number of infections Thursday crossed the 6 lakh-mark to reach 6,04,641, including 17834 deaths, 2,26,947 active cases and 3,59,860 recoveries.

The Bombay High Court has directed the state government, the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) and Kalyan Dombivali Municipal Corporation (KDMC) to respond to a public interest litigation on disposal of “untreated” coronavirus-related biomedical waste at Adharwadi dumping ground in Kalyan.

Observing that the plea raised an important issue relating to bio-medical waste management, the high court has also directed the pollution control board to inspect the dumping ground and inform if guidelines pertaining to disposal of such biomedical waste were being adhered to.

A division bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice N J Jamadar made the observations Tuesday while hearing, through video-conference, a PIL filed by activist Kishor Ramesh Sohoni, through advocate Sadhana Kumar, that sought directives to the KDMC to stop dumping biomedical waste at Adharwadi dumping ground.

As many as 5,800 vehicles seized in the last two days, in connection with the violation of Coronavirus lockdown norms. On June 30, 3,508 vehicles were seized and on July 1, 2,369 vehicles were seized: Mumbai Police

State Covid-19 task force chief, Dr Sanjay Oak, was hospitalised on Monday after he suffered breathlessness during a video-conference with experts. Oak had contracted the coronavirus disease last month and was initially admitted to Prince Aly Khan Hospital in the city.

On Monday, he was admitted to Fortis Hospital in Mulund after he experienced breathing difficulty. Dr Rahul Pandit, his treating doctor, said he remains stable and is recovering. “He is on oxygen support right now,” Pandit said.

Last week, Oak had told The Indian Express that after his discharge he was working for four hours a day and planned to resume a full-fledged schedule starting this week. He was under quarantine at home.

After three months of missteps, there seems to be consensus — or rather a late realisation — that not all patients with Covid-19 need to be taken to hospitals. We have known with fair certainty since early March that Covid-19 does not spread like Ebola, and that in the absence of effective medical treatment, non-pharmaceutical interventions like hand-washing, masking and physical distancing would be the best defence. And yet, for nearly one hundred days, confirmed cases of Covid-19 in India’s cities were being admitted to hospitals, irrespective of the severity of disease.

This blunder — with no clinical justification — resulted in first paralysing, then overwhelming, and finally crushing entire health systems. The hospitals were rendered incapable of caring for tens of thousands of other patients with non-Covid-related diseases, and jeopardised the wellbeing of their overworked staff. What can other cities, towns and villages in India learn from this, as the pandemic spreads to the hinterland? Read More

Days after it issued orders asking people to refrain from travelling more than 2 km from their homes for non-essential activities, exempting office-goers and those facing medical emergency, the Mumbai Police on Wednesday asked residents to restrict their movements to their “neighbourhood” till July 15. Read more here

Among the top five wards with a lion’s share of Covid-19 cases till May, Mumbai’s M West ward, spread over Chembur and Mahul, in June witnessed a rapid drop in cases after an aggressive contact-tracing exercise was carried out by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. The ward, which has 76 per cent of its population living in slums, now ranks 18th among the 24 administrative wards in the city in caseload with a total of 2,310 cases recorded till June 30. Read more here