Mumbai: In a frightening sign of how COVID-19 pandemic has been spreading rapidly in the state, more than one lakh coronavirus cases were reported in Maharashtra in the month of June. Nearly 3,500 patients were added on a daily basis in the state in June.

At the start of June, there were 70,013 COVID-19 cases in Maharashtra, which soared to 1,74,761 lakh by the end of June. In Mumbai, the most affected city in the state, the number of cases on June 1 was 41,099. But the figure rapidly rose to 77,658 by June 30.

State health minister Rajesh Tope ruled out community transmission of COVID-19 in the state. He said, “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.”

“The data shows that most of the coronavirus positive patients are those who were earlier placed under institutional quarantine, home quarantine or had some contact history. Therefore, there has been no community spread in Maharashtra so far,” Tope added.

Till Wednesday night, the number of coronavirus cases in the state stood at 1,86,626, while the death toll was 8,053.

The first case of COVID-19 was found on March 9, whereas the first death was reported in Mumbai on March 17.

Interestingly, June marked beginning of Maharashtra government's ‘Mission Begin Again’ campaign. After more than 2.5 months of rigorous lockdown, the state government offered several relaxations by lifting the curbs on June 8. However, large crowds at public places and the failure in maintaining social distancing have nullified the advantages of the lockdown and resulted in manifold rise in coronavirus cases.

In the midst of gloom, there is a silver lining too. More than 1,01,172 patients have recovered in the state, with the recovery rate at 54.21 percent. According to Tope, plasma therapy is proving to be effective as it is showing positive results in nine out of 10 patients.