Statistics compiled by the state’s Excise department show that alcohol consumption between April and June across Maharashtra was down 59 per cent as compared to the consumption level for the same period last year. As against 24.08 crore bulk litres (bl) consumed in April-June 2019, the consumption was barely 9.89 crore bl this year. Senior excise officials and industry players indicate the recovery to 2019 consumption level may take a while. According to Maharashtra’s Excise Commissioner Kantilal Umap, restaurants, hotels and permit rooms have over the years contributed to 50 per cent of beer consumption, 30 per cent of alcoholic spirit and 40 per cent of country liquor sales. “The trouble is these growth drivers are expected to be subdued over the near to medium term. The spending power of the salaried class has also taken a hit. This will also impact recovery,” he said.   

A 38-year-oldpoliceman died of COVID-19 in Maharashtra's Palghar district on Monday, a police official said. The deceased, a police naik, was a resident of Murbad taluka in neighbouring Thane district. He was attached to the Valiv police station at Vasai in Palghar.

After he tested positive for coronavirus, he was admitted to a hospital where he was undergoing treatment. He was on ventilator support since the last two-three days and died on Monday, Palghar police spokesperson Sachin Navadkar said. District Collector Dr Kailas Shinde in a message condoled the death of the policeman.

Navadkar said 135 personnel in the district have so far tested positive for coronavirus and two of them have died. Earlier, a 40-year-old hawaldar died of coronavirus here last month. Till now, 130 police personnel have been discharged after recovery while 30 are currently undergoing treatment in hospitals, the spokesperson said.

Actor Sonu Sood on Monday said he would provide financial assistance to over 400 families of deceased and injured migrant workers, hit by the coronavirus-induced nationwide lockdown. The  actor got in touch with the authorities of various states, including, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and took relevant information --addresses and bank details-- of the migrants who lost their lives.

"I've decided to help families of the deceased or injured migrants for them to have a secure future. I feel it's my personal responsibility to support them," Sood said in a statement.

The 46-year-old has been arranging transport for thousands of migrants desperate to return to their home states. 'Last month, the actor arranged for chartered flights to help fly over 300 migrant workers.

More than three-fourth of their strength will be deployed on the ground to enforce the lockdown in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad as well as its surrounding areas, said police officials from both the jurisdictions. Aiming to break the chain of the coronavirus spread, Pune district administration on Friday announced a 10-day lockdown in the municipal corporations of Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad, and surrounding rural areas, starting from July 14 to July 23. While specific rules of the lockdown are yet to be published in the form of official order by the civic bodies, a series of meetings between civic, administration, and police officials have been held over the weekend to discuss the details of the lockdown and its enforcement.

Megastar Amitabh Bachchan and his son, actor Abhishek Bachchan, who were admitted to a hospital in Mumbai after testing positive for coronavirus, are "clinically stable", hospital sources told news agency PTI today. "They both are in the (isolation) ward and are clinically stable. At present, they do not requiring aggressive treatment. They are okay with the first line of medication. They are being given supportive therapy," a hospital insider told PTI. "Their vitals and appetite are fine," the source added.

A 38-year-old policeman died of coronavirus in Maharashtra's Palghar district on Monday, a police official said, PTI reported. The deceased, a police naik, was a resident of Murbad taluka in neighbouring Thane district. He was attached to the Valiv police station at Vasai in Palghar. After he tested positive for coronavirus, he was admitted to a hospital where he was undergoing treatment. He was on ventilator support since the last two-three days and died on Monday, Palghar police spokesperson Sachin Navadkar said. District Collector Dr Kailas Shinde in a message condoled the death of the policeman.

As many as 480 Indian medical students, who were stranded in Russia, arrived in Mumbai by a private chartered flight on Monday. Some of the students who came back thanked Maharashtra minister Aaditya Thackeray for the help in facilitating their return. Shiv Sena's Mumbai-South MP Arvind Sawant told PTI that he advised students who contacted him to tweet to Thackeray for help since he is a cabinet minister and holds charge of the protocol department. The students, who returned by the Royal Flight from Russia on Monday, included 470 from Maharashtra, four from the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, four from Madhya Pradesh and two from Goa. "Each student contributed 400 dollars, (around Rs 30,000) for the journey," said Nikesh Ranjan of Delhi-based Nixtour online ticketing company which arranged the flight.

Industry bodies like the Mahratta Chamber of Commerce Industries and Agriculture and CREDAI would be allowed to assist the Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad Police Commissionerates to issue passes for industries during the 10-day lockdown. Dr Deepak Mhasikar, divisional commissioner of Pune, while interacting with the industry bodies on Sunday urged industries to undertake antigen testing of its employees in case anyone tests positive in their unit. Industry bodies like the Mahratta Chamber of Commerce Industries and Agriculture and CREDAI would be allowed to assist the Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad Police Commissionerates to issue passes for industries during the 10-day lockdown. Dr Deepak Mhasikar, divisional commissioner of Pune, while interacting with the industry bodies on Sunday urged industries to undertake antigen testing of its employees in case anyone tests positive in their unit.

Set to reintroduce strict lockdown norms from July 14, the Pune Municipal Corporation and the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) have decided to restrict any free movement of people in the city without valid reason while keeping all commercial establishments closed for the first five days in the 10-day lockdown to check the spread of Covid-19. However, both civic bodies have allowed industries, the IT sector and government offices to operate with conditions but stopped operations of private offices. In an order, the new Pune Municipal Commissioner, Vikram Kumar, said that the coronavirus infection in the city is spreading very fast and the state government has empowered the civic administration to take all possible steps to stop it.

Vikram Kumar took over as the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) chief on Sunday from outgoing civic chief Shekhar Gaikwad. Gaikwad was transferred on Saturday in a sudden move by the state government, a day after he expressed reservation over reintroducing strict lockdown in the city to contain the Covid-19 pandemic. He barely served for six months in the civic body and had drawn praise for the containment measures in the beginning but later faced criticism from elected representatives for not taking them into confidence while taking decisions.

The Indian Railway is all set to replace conventional dustbins with compactor dustbins to improve sanitation in 5,000 Linke Hofmann Busch (LHB) coaches. The new dustbins, designed by Modern Coach Factory (MCF), are equipped with an in-built piston to crush garbage inside bins and create room for extra waste, thereby preventing spillage of trash inside coaches. The technology was first used in the Tejas Express. The move to install compactor dustbins comes after it was found that conventional dustbins, with a limited capacity to carry only about eight litres garbage, often overflow within a few hours into the journey. The problem aggravates when passengers throw garbage in the newly installed bio-toilets toilets that leave them choked. “Passengers often dump garbage inside bio-toilets causing them to choke. It [compactor dustbins] is a requirement which has evolved with time,” an official from the WR said.

At least 480 students from Maharashtra, most of them pursuing graduate medical courses in Russia who could not make it to the Vande Bharat flights, are set to return to the state on a private chartered flight on Monday. The students are scheduled to land at Mumbai international airport at 5 am. Royal Flight Boeing 777, chartered by private operator Nixtour, was scheduled to take off from the Moscow airport at 10.30 pm (Indian Standard Time) on Sunday. Among the students arriving, 57 have recently graduated. Nixtour had made a proposal to the state government to help Maharashtra students return from Russia. “The proposal received quick approvals from the state, the Union government and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation,” said Nixtour Director Nikesh Ranjan.

Nashik district in Maharashtra reported 218 coronavirus positive cases on Sunday, taking its count to 7,002, officials said. The death of 14 more patients took the fatality count to 332, they said. Of the total number of deceased, 79 were from Malegaon, 169 from areas under the Nashik Municipal Corporation, 70 from other parts of the district, while 14 others from outside the district, who were receiving treatment here. Out of the total 7,002 positive cases, 1,151 came from Malegaon, 4,084 from Nashik city and 1,630 from other parts of the district, an official statement said. The number of recovered patients in the district has reached 4,519, it said.

Statistics compiled by the state’s Excise department show that alcohol consumption between April and June across Maharashtra was down 59 per cent as compared to the consumption level for the same period last year. As against 24.08 crore bulk litres (bl) consumed in April-June 2019, the consumption was barely 9.89 crore bl this year. Senior excise officials and industry players indicate the recovery to 2019 consumption level may take a while. According to Maharashtra’s Excise Commissioner Kantilal Umap, restaurants, hotels and permit rooms have over the years contributed to 50 per cent of beer consumption, 30 per cent of alcoholic spirit and 40 per cent of country liquor sales. “The trouble is these growth drivers are expected to be subdued over the near to medium term. The spending power of the salaried class has also taken a hit. This will also impact recovery,” he said.

A day after Amitabh Bachchan and his son Abhishek revealed their diagnosis of Covid-19, the megastar’s daughter-in-law Aishwarya (46) and granddaughter Aaradhya (8) also tested positive for the virus. His wife Jaya has tested negative for coronavirus. While the father-son duo were admitted to Nanavati Hospital on Saturday after showing mild symptoms, Aishwarya and Aaradhya are asymptomatic and are set to remain in home isolation. A Nanavati hospital official said, “Both (Amitabh and Abhishek) are stable and have mild symptoms. Abhishek Bachchan may soon be advised home isolation and discharged.”

On Sunday, Mumbai recorded a doubling rate of 50 days. The city, once a hotspot accounting for the largest share of Covid-19 infections in the country, is gradually reducing its share in the total case load. Of the 44 patients who died, 32 had co-morbidities, four were below 40 years of age and 32 were above 60 years of age. The rest were between 40 to 60 years. Areas under Mumbai Metropolitan Region also continued to record an increase in the number of cases. Kalyan Dombivali Municipal Corporation recorded a spike of 779 cases, taking its total count to 14,611. With 465 new cases, Thane has recorded 14,757 cases.

More than three-fourth of their strength will be deployed on the ground to enforce the lockdown in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad as well as its surrounding areas, said police officials from both the jurisdictions. Read More

A 55-year-old assistant police sub-inspector succumbed to Covid-19 on Sunday, taking the death toll in the Mumbai police department to 47.

Suresh Jadhav was posted at the DN Nagar traffic division. He had been on leave since the Mumbai Police Commissioner allowed cops aged above 55 to remain off duty.

Jadhav started suffering from breathlessness on June 19, and was admitted to a private hospital in Kandivali, where his swabs were collected for testing. His reports confirmed that he was infected with coronavirus. 

“He was on oxygen support since then. His health had improved in between. However, early on Sunday, his health deteriorated and he passed away,” said an officer.

Industry bodies like the Mahratta Chamber of Commerce Industries and Agriculture and CREDAI would be allowed to assist the Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad Police Commissionerates to issue passes for industries during the 10-day lockdown. Dr Deepak Mhasikar, divisional commissioner of Pune, while interacting with the industry bodies on Sunday urged industries to undertake antigen testing of its employees in case anyone tests positive in their unit. Read More