Expressing dissatisfaction over lack of coordination between authorities and concerned over ‘alarming situation’ in Aurangabad district, the Bombay High Court Aurangabad bench, in a significant order said that it may visit quarantine facilities and hospitals to see whether the discipline is maintained and may give directions to register a case against those not discharging their duties regardless of their ranks. The court had also observed that while officers working in Dharavi, Malegaon and Kerala ensured containing the Covid-19 spread in these areas, the same could not be said of Jalgaon and Aurangabad as some of the officials were not properly discharging their duties.

State minister Aaditya Thackeray has said the priority of the government is to tackle the pandemic situation and other things are secondary, PTI reported. The state environment and tourism minister was talking to reporters in Thane on Saturday evening while he was here to take stock of the Covid-19 situation and measures undertaken by civic bodies in the district to contain the disease. Asked about the opposition's criticism that the government was unable to properly tackle the Covid-19 crisis, Thackeray said, "Let them do their work, we will keep on doing our work. Our priority at present is to deal with the Covid-19 situation and break the virus chain, other things are secondary."

In a bid to check overcharging by private hospitals, the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) has ordered an audit of charges levied by hospitals treating coronavirus patients, a civic official said on Sunday, PTI reported. Four teams of auditors have been formed to audit bills of 15 hospitals here in Maharashtra, the official said. The order was issued by TMC Commissioner Dr Vipin Sharma on Saturday after complaints that some hospitals were charging exorbitant amounts from patients, he said. If any hospital is found to be charging more than the permitted charges, then the TMC will issue a show-cause notice to the medical facility and order refund of the excess amount, Deputy Municipal Commissioner Vishwanath Kelkar said. The audit teams have been asked to verify at least 100 bills per day, he said. The civic body will also impose fines on hospitals found to be violating the civic instructions, he added.

In a step that will bring significant relief to ailing cooperative sugar mills in Maharashtra, the state government has asked them for a proposal to consider their pleas to grant government guarantee, so that they are able to raise capital for the upcoming season. As many as 58 of the 102 cooperative mills in the state have faced problems in raising capital due to their negative net disposable resource (NDR), ahead of what is expected to be a bumper crop season.

A 49-year-old man from Pimpri-Chinchwad has caught the attention of media after photos of him wearing a gold mask went viral. A resident of Indrayani Nagar in Pimpri-Chinchwad, Shankar Kurhade has got himself a gold mask made for around Rs 3 lakh. “I didn’t do it for publicity. I’m fond of gold,” he said. However, Kurhade said he was not sure if the gold mask will protect him from Covid-19. “It is not the gold or cloth mask, but social distancing and hand washing that will protect human beings from coronavirus (sic).”

The Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation on Saturday issued new guidelines for home isolation of coronavirus positive patients, who have mild or moderate symptoms, or are asymptomatic. The revised guidelines are based on the directives of the Indian Council of Medical Research. “Though the new guidelines are based on ICMR directives, we have tweaked them to suit our local situation,” said Municipal Commissioner Shravan Hardikar. Patients who have mild Covid-19 symptoms, but have other pre-existing illnesses like diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and kidney ailment, will have to be sent to isolation wards. “There will be no home isolation for them. They will be discharged after seven days in isolation wards,” said the civic chief.

Pune Mayor and BJP leader Murlidhar Mohol tested positive for Covid-19 on Saturday. Since the pandemic broke out, Mohol had led the city’s fight against the disease from the front, supervising efforts in hospitals and affected areas. He had also reached out to the state government as well as the Union government over various issues related to tackling the pandemic. The BJP leader had been instrumental in getting the PMC financial assistance from the corporate sector, as well as securing facilities to upgrade the health infratsurture needed for treating Covid-19 patients.

With 1,163 new cases, Mumbai now has 83,237 cases. The city recorded 68 deaths due to coronavirus in the last 48 hours, taking its toll to 4,762. Dharavi, on Saturday recorded its lowest increase in cases at two, taking the total count from the highly congested and one of the largest slums to 2,311.

Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar's helicopter trip to Nashik in north Maharashtra during lockdown has sparked a controversy. Maharashtra minister Chhagan Bhujbal said on Saturday that he will order inquiry into the special permission which the actor reportedly obtained for the air travel and stay at a resort in Nashik during the visit earlier this week. While the actor's spokespersons did not offer any comment immediately, sources said he flew to Nashik with a special permission to see a doctor. 

"I read about his visit to Nashik in newspapers today. I have no idea when he came and left. I will have to check," Food and Civil Supplies Minister Bhujbal, who is also the 'guardian minister' of the district, told reporters in Nashik. "I will have to check, where he lived etc. I have received complaints about how he could be allowed to stay in a resort (amid coronavirus outbreak). We will ask the police to look into it. I have no idea who gave him the permission, why it was given. Officials will be questioned if something wrong has happened," the senior NCP leader added.

The Cine And TV Artistes' Association (CINTAA) on Saturday met Maharashtra governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari to discuss the guidelines issued by the state government that restricts senior actors from returning to work amid the coronavirus scare. The production of TV shows, web series and films, which were stopped mid-March in the wake of COVID-19 outbreak in the country, were in May allowed to restart in non-containment zones with stringent safety guidelines. As per the guidelines, artistes and crew above 65 years of age are not allowed to resume work.

CINTAA Senior Vice President Manoj Joshi said he briefed the Maha Governor about senior citizens, who have families dependent on them for livelihood, and apprised him that they already have had no work for the past three months.

Around 11,000 inmates have been released temporarily from Maharashtra jails so far to reduce crowding in view of coronavirus outbreak, state Home Minister Anil Deshmukh said on Saturday. He was speaking to reporters after a visit to Nagpur Central Jail where 41 inmates and 56 staff tested positive for the infection in the last four days. "There are 37,000 inmates in Maharashtra's jails. Of these, 11,000, including those facing up to seven years imprisonment, have been released on parole to maintain social distancing norms in prisons. So far, 414 prisoners have tested positive for novel coronavirus in the state, and 281 of them have been released on parole," he said.

"A total of 162 prison staff have tested positive so far. Nine jails have been placed under lockdown to control the virus spread," he added.

3,395 patients were discharged, taking the number of recovered patients to 1,08,082. There are 83,311 active cases in the state now while 10,80,975 people have been tested, said the health department.

Instances of wall collapse, uprooting of trees and waterlogging were reported in Maharashtra as heavy rains lashed large parts of the western state, including Mumbai, for the second day on Saturday. However, there were no casualties. North India witnessed predominantly sultry weather, with Punjab and Haryana recording above-normal day temperatures. Rainfall was recorded at isolated places in Uttar Pradesh.

Mumbai suburbs and neighbouring Thane have received more than 100 mm rainfall since Saturday morning, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said. Interior Maharashtra also received fairly widespread rainfall, it said. The Colaba weather station in south Mumbai recorded 66 mm rainfall between 8.30 am and 5.30 pm, while the Santacruz station recorded 111.4 mm rainfall, according to the IMD.

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Maharashtra's COVID-19 case tally crosses two lakh with record single-day spike of7,074 new cases, 295 fatalities take death toll to 8,671: health department.

Mumbai police on Saturday tweaked its 2-kilometre radius diktat imposed to curb needless travel during the coronavirus-induced lockdown and allowed people to move around in the nearby neighbourhood. In a tweet, the police said people were "permitted shopping closer to home (5am-9pm)" and asked them not to forget IDs and other documents while travelling for work.

It also said night curfew was in force between 9pm to 5am with exemptions only for essential travel, including for medical and travel purposes. The instruction to not travel beyond 2 kilometres during the lockdown was issued by police on Sunday, while prohibitory orders under section 144 of CrPC were imposed on Wednesday.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday told the officials in Mumbai that coordination was necessary to tackle the coronavirus pandemic as well as monsoon-related illnesses in the city. He held a review meeting with officials of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), an official release said.

The need of the hour was to increase tracing and testing of suspected coronavirus patients, he said. Mortality rate of the pandemic in the city too should be reduced, the chief minister said. BMC officials were working hard to contain the pandemic and even the central team had praised their efforts, he noted. "The war is not over yet," he said.

Institutional quarantine facilities should also be increased, Thackeray said.

Only two new coronavirus patients were detected in Dharavi area of Mumbai on Saturday, taking its case tally to 2,311, a senior Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) official said. The area, known as Asia's largest slum cluster, has recorded such a small rise in COVID-19 cases for the first time since the first week of April. The BMC did not reveal if any fresh virus-related death has been reported in the area. The civic body has
stopped giving information about deaths in the area for the past few days.

On June 23, Dharavi had reported only five new coronavirus cases. The area has now 519 active COVID-19 cases with 1,704 patients having been discharged after recovery. Dharavi, spread over 2.5 square kilometres, has a population of around 6.5 lakh. As of Friday, average doubling rate of coronavirus cases for seven days in the area was 140 days and average growth rate of cases was 0.55 per cent.

(PTI Inputs)

No passenger flights will operate to Kolkata from Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Pune, Nagpur and Ahmedabad from July 6 to July 19 or till further orders, whichever is earlier: Kolkata airport

Rajasthan BJP has shown how to stand shoulder to shoulder with people, no matter if we are in the power or out of the power. Very inspiring!: PM Narendra Modi after reviewing relief works by BJP workers in Rajasthan during the lockdown