Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday instructed top administrative officials to avoid any carelessness in implementing the measures to contain the spread of coronavirus disease.

At a review meeting, through video-conference, with top officials, Thackeray said crowding during the Ganesh festival should be avoided and guidelines on the height of idols and their immersion followed.

“So far, all religious communities have celebrated the festivals in a simple manner and cooperated with the government. Now, the upcoming Ganesh festival and Muharram should also be observed without any crowding and by strictly following the instructions,” Thackeray said.

For the first time since May, the overall positivity rate in the country has begun to decline, indicating that, out of those who are being tested, far lesser number of people are being found infected now than earlier.

After rising steadily for the last three months, the positivity rate reached a peak of 9.01 per cent on August 9, after which it has begun to decline. It has come to 8.72 per cent now.

The dip in the positivity rate is significant because it could mean that the spread of the disease in the population is slowing down. This would certainly be true if the tests were being carried out randomly. However, most states are still relying on targeted testing, meaning only those who are showing symptoms of the disease or who are close contacts of an already infected person, are being tested. A shift to more random testing could also trigger a decline in positivity rate, because far greater number of people are likely to be detected positive in targeted testing.

Australia has said once a vaccine for the novel Coronavirus becomes available, it will offer it free to all its citizens. Australia has entered into an agreement with pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca for securing access to the vaccine it is developing in collaboration with Oxford University.

“If this vaccine proves successful, we will manufacture and supply vaccines straight away under our own steam and make it free for 25 million Australians,” Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison was quoted as saying in a BBC report. So far, a little more than 23,000 people have been infected with novel Coronavirus in Australia, and there have been more than 430 deaths due to the disease.

With the detection of 1,024 new cases of coronavirus, the tally in Maharashtra's Nagpur district has reached 15,637 on Tuesday, an official said. Apart from this, the district also recorded 37 casualties, taking the toll in the region to 549, the official said. Of the 549 deaths reported so far, 395 were Nagpur, while 154 were recorded in rural areas and outside the district, he said. At least 281 COVID-19 patients were discharged from hospitals after recovering from the deadly infection on Tuesday, the official added.

With the detection of 1,024 new cases of coronavirus, the tally in Maharashtra's Nagpur district has reached 15,637 on Tuesday, an official said. Apart from this, the district also recorded 37 casualties, taking the toll in the region to 549, the official said. Of the 549 deaths reported so far, 395 were Nagpur, while 154 were recorded in rural areas and outside the district, he said. At least 281 COVID-19 patients were discharged from hospitals after recovering from the deadly infection on Tuesday, the official added.

The Maharashtra government has decided to provide Rs 25 lakh insurance cover to non-government organisations (NGOs) from rural areas which perform final rites of people who die of COVID-19, Minister Hasan Mushrif said on Tuesday. The insurance cover to NGOs will be provided till September 30, the rural development minister said, according to an official statement here.

Mushrif said the government issued a circular in this regard on Tuesday. "A decision has been taken to give Rs 25 lakh insurance cover to non-government organisations from rural areas and their staffers who perform final rites of those who die due to COVID-19," he said, according to the statement.

The COVID-19 tally in Nashik district of Maharashtra rose to 25,910 on Tuesday with addition of 622 cases, health officials said. With nine more people succumbing to the infection, the toll went up to 713, they said. A total of 895 people were discharged during the day, taking the number of recoveries to 20,846, officials added.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday held discussions with a group of eminent persons on ways of boosting the state's growth rate and reviving its economy which has been badly hit by COVID-19. These eminent persons, including veteran banker Deepak Parekh and former bureaucrat Vijay Kelkar, are members of the Pune International Centre.

Thackeray held the discussions with the Centres president Raghunath Mashelkar, vice-president Kelkar, Parekh, Shami Mehta and other members via video-conferencing. Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, who holds the finance portfolio, also took part in the parleys.

Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has indicated that it may be a while before schools in Maharashtra are allowed to reopen, and has stressed on the promotion of e-learning. “Maharashtra was the first state to start online school education,” Thackeray said during a webinar on August 15 with Dr Shashank Joshi and Dr Rahul Pandit, members of the state’s Covid-19 task force. This had helped control case numbers, he said.

Most deaths among children and teens were on account of respiratory failure caused by the virus, the Public Health Department data show.

In some cases, children suffered multi-inflammatory syndrome following the infection. There are plans to maintain a separate record of such cases, state Health Department officials said.

The case fatality ratio (CFR) – the number of deaths against the number of confirmed cases – in the age group of 18 years or younger is 0.15 per cent, the government data show. That is far lower than the CFR for Maharashtra as a whole (3.35 per cent). India’s overall CFR has been falling steadily even as case numbers have risen, and stands at 1.92 per cent now.

In Maharashtra, those aged below 20 account for 36.07 per cent of the total population as per the 2011 Census.

As of August 17, Maharashtra had recorded 23,995 cases of Covid-19 among children under age 10, and 42,529 in the age group 11-20 years, including both active and cured/discharged cases. However, between 1,000 and 1,200 children and young people aged 20 years or less have been testing positive every day on average in the state since the beginning of August, the data show.

AS governments debate when and how to open schools, data collected by the Maharashtra Public Health Department show that those below the age of 20 account for 11 per cent of the casesin the state but just 0.5 per cent of its Covid deaths were of infected children and teens aged 18 or less.

Out of the 5.95 lakh cases of the novel coronavirus infection (including both active and cured/discharged cases) in Maharashtra — which tops the country in absolute case count and number of deaths — over 66,000 have been children and young people up to age 20, the data, arranged age-wise by the state government, show. However, of the 19,830 Covid-19 deaths in the state analysed until August 16, just 99 were of children and teens aged 18 or below (51 of them aged 0-9).

IN A MOVE that will bring relief to one-crore plus consumers, the Uddhav Thackeray-led coalition government has decided to bear the bulk of “additional” burden in power bills during lockdown months. It will also address complaints of high power bills by people, including prominent industrialists and film celebrities in the state.

According to a proposal to be discussed in the Cabinet, all eligible households will be liable to pay only for the units consumed in the corresponding month in 2019. For cases where the billed units for April, May and June this year exceed the corresponding usage by 100 units or less, the government has proposed to bear the entire cost of the surplus consumption.

Maharashtra on Tuesday reported 11,119 new coronavirus patients which took the state’s case tally to 6,15,477. With 422 COVID-19 patients succumbing, the death toll in the state reached 20,687. 9,356 patients were discharged from hospitals, taking the number of recovered coronavirus patients to 4,37,870. There are now 1,56,608 active cases in the state.

The Maharashtra government has decided to provide Rs 25 lakh insurance cover to non- government organisations (NGOs) from rural areas which perform final rites of people who die of COVID-19, Minister Hasan Mushrif said on Tuesday. The insurance cover to NGOs will be provided till September 30, the rural development minister said, according to an official statement. Mushrif said the government issued a circular in this regard on Tuesday.

'A decision has been taken to give Rs 25 lakh insurance cover to non-government organisations from rural areas and their staffers who perform final rites of those who die due to COVID-19,' he said, according to the statement. (PTI)

Maharashtra on Tuesday reported 11,119 new coronavirus patients which took the state’s case tally to 6,15,477. With 422 COVID-19 patients succumbing, the death toll in the state reached 20,687. 9,356 patients were discharged from hospitals, taking the number of recovered coronavirus patients to 4,37,870. There are now 1,56,608 active cases in the state.

The coronavirus case tally in the slum-dominated Dharavi area of Mumbai rose to 2,676 on Tuesday with four new patients coming to light, said a Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) official. The area, considered to be Asia's largest slum, recorded a single-digit rise on the 15th day in a row. It had registered a spike of only four cases on Monday too.

On August 3, Dharavi recorded 12 new COVID-19 cases but thereafter the daily rise was in single digit. On August 5, only one new case was found, while nine cases were found on both August 10 and 12. (PTI)

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday directed the Maharashtra government to clarify its stand on reopening places of worship amid the coronavirus-enforced lockdown in the state. A bench led by Chief Justice Dipankar Datta was hearing a Public Interest Litigation filed by a city-based NGO seeking that the state reopen temples and permit limited number of devotees at a time to enter the temples.

The court directed Advocate General Ashutosh Kumbhakoni to file an affidavit clarifying the state's stand over it. Kumbhakoni, however, told HC that on August 12, the state filed a reply before another bench of the court saying it did not intend to open any place of worship currently as it would pose an imminent risk of spread of coronavirus. (PTI)

What are sero-surveys, and what do they tell us about the Covid-19 infection? So far, at least five sero-surveys have been reported from India – an early all-India survey, surveys in Delhi, Mumbai and Berhampur in Odissa, and now from Pune city. A duo of experts look at what these surveys have found

Top ten states with maximum caseload: