Maharashtra Coronavirus Live Updates: BJP protests for reopening of temples across state

Several BJP activists today staged protests outside temples in Maharashtra's Thane and Palghar districts and Pune city demanding the reopening of places of worship, PTI reported. BJP MLAs, legislators, corporators and office-bearers led the protests in all cities of Thane and Palghar districts, with activists resorting to 'ghanta naad' (ringing of bells) and banging of plates outside temples. BJP MLAs Sanjay Kelkar, Ravindra Chavan, Ganpat Gaikwad, Thane city president and MLC Niranjan Davkhare were among those who led the protests.

Pune district in Maharashtra reported 3,611 coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, which took its overall count to 1,60,455, a health official said on Friday. The district's death toll due to the pandemic reached 3,937 with 64 succumbing to the infection during the day, he added. "Of the 3,611 cases, 1,781 were from areas within the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) limits, which now has 90,871 patients," he said. As many as 1,578 patients were discharged from hospitals on the day. With 1,006 cases in neighbouring Pimpri Chinchwad township, the Covid-19 count there stands at 46,516 now.

Even as the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) struggles to reduce the mortality rate due to Covid-19, civic data indicates that around 25 per cent infected patients and 72 per cent of those who died are co-morbid, which has made the civic administration focus harder on this category. The PMC has identified 3,085 co-morbid Covid-19 patients through door-to-door screening in the last two months. “A total of 3,57,270 co-morbid patients were screened from July 7 to August 26 by 1,420 civic staff. As many as 9,299 were referred for Covid-19 test, of which 3,085 have tested positive for the novel coronavirus,” said Additional Municipal Commissioner Rubal Agarwal. The civic staff has been screening people aged above 60, people suffering from co-morbidities such as diabetes, high blood pressure, asthma or other illness, and pregnant women. The team identifies a suspected case by noting down temperature measured by a thermal gun, oxygen saturation level through pulse oximeter, and symptoms of viral infection such as high body temperature, cough, cold, and breathlessness.

A far cry from the bustling crowds dressed in black and mounted screens on the streets playing sermons, Dongri – a major Shia pocket in the city – is observing a largely sombre Muharram this year in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. Unlike public gatherings and sermons that usually mark the 10-day period, several people of the Shia community are performing majlis (sermons), matam (beating of the chest) and nauhas (elegies about Karbala) at their own houses this year. Several families also kept their individual taboots (replica of a tomb) at their houses as against at a common place where all used to earlier congregate.

Rambo Circus has opened its colourful tent to the outside world. Without leaving your home, you can watch acrobats perform mind-boggling stunts, trapeze artistes flying overhead, clowns, jugglers, contortionists and giants on stilts. Rambo, one of India’s biggest and oldest circuses, is fighting back the Covid-19 pandemic by taking an hour-long show – “Life is a circus – An Ode to the Greatest Showmanship” – online. It is, possibly, the first circus in India to do so. Tickets went on sale on Friday on BookMyShow and streaming will begin September 25. “The circus was one of the favourite outings for children and the entire families a few decades ago. Children, especially those born in the 1980s and 1990s, will have fond memories of going to the circus. With isolation becoming the new norm, we are trying to reinvent the experience of watching a circus online for a new generation of children and adults,” said Sujit Dilip, owner of Rambo Circus. Click here to read more.

In a limited relief to All India Idara Tahfaz e Hussainiyat, a religious organisation in south Mumbai representing a section of the Shia community, the Bombay High Court on Friday permitted it to hold a Muharram procession consisting of not more than five persons on Sunday. The court allowed the organisation to take out the Tazia, a replica of the mausoleum of Imam Hussain, by truck only from Bhendi Bazaar to the graveyard in Mazgaon. The five persons can carry the Tazia on foot while covering the last 100 m towards the graveyard. The court asked the organisation to give an undertaking to adhere to other guidelines laid down by the state for the same, failing which action would be initiated against them as per law.

Offences have been registered against 94 persons for allegedly violating the prohibitory orders by carrying out processions for immersion of Ganesh idols in Maharashtra's Palghar district, an official told PTI on Friday. At least seven offences were registered against 94 persons at Vasai, Arnala and Valiv police stations of the district on Thursday, Palghar police PRO Sachin Navadkar said. As per an order issued by the district collector, processions and gathering of five or more persons has been prohibited, he said.

The Yuva Sena on Friday said it respects theSupreme Court's decision regarding holding the final year universityexaminations and said that it had approached theapex courtfor the health and well-being of students. Yuva Sena, the youth wing of the Shiv Sena, is one of the petitioners in the apex court and has questioned the UGC's directive to hold examinations amid the coronavirus pandemic. "TheSC has reiterated that it is upto the respective state governments to decide on when and how to hold examinations, not at the insistence of the September 30 deadline of the UGC," Yuva Sena secretary Varun Sardesai said.

While the Covid-19 pandemic has affected health services in other parts of the state as well, the impact on Mumbai is far greater, showed a five-month comparative analysis of data accessed from the BMC and the state public health department between March and July in 2019 and 2020. Immunisation from March to July this year fell by 60 per cent in Mumbai when compared to last year. The dip is almost double than the state’s fall in numbers. Over the same period, cataract surgeries fell by 92.8 per cent. In April, May and June, when Covid-19 cases surged, the hospitals did not record any cataract and male sterilisation procedures. There was a 70.3 per cent decline in male and female sterilisation in the city, against 65 per cent in the state, as elective procedures came to a standstill.

Ahead of Unlock 4.0, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Friday asked gym owners to frame standard operating procedures (SOPs) and enlist the measures they would take to prevent the spread of coronavirus if their establishments are allowed to operate. He added that based on the submission of the SOPs, a decision on restarting gyms in the state would be taken. Gyms, swimming pools, malls, theatres and educational institutions have been shut since mid-March after the coronavirus cases were reported in the state.

BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis on Friday said that religious places in Maharashtra should be opened as in other states. If liquor shops and malls can reopen with relaxation of lockdown, why should religious places should remain closed, the former chief minister said. "We expect religious places will be opened for the public in Maharashtra as has been done by all other states in the country," he was quoted as saying by news agency PTI. People are aware of the danger of coronavirus and will take all the precautions even if religious places are reopened, Fadnavis added.

As many as 958 people tested positive for COVID-19 in Maharashtra's Nashik district in the last 24 hours, taking the caseload here to 34,046, an official said. With the death of five COVID-19 patients on Friday, the toll in the region stood at 839, the official said. Of the latest casualties, two were reported from the Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC) limits, while three were from other parts of the district. At least 741 patients were discharged from hospitals, taking the number of recoveries in the district to 27,337. (PTI)

Maharashtra on Friday reported 14,361 COVID-19 cases, taking the tally to 7,47,995, a state health official said. The death toll due to the virus reached 23,775 as the state reported 331 fatalities during the day, he said. Out of the total number of COVID-19 cases in the state, 1,80,718 are active ones. As many as 11,607 people were discharged after recovery, taking the count of such patients to 5,43,170. So far, 39,32,522 tests have been carried out in the state. (PTI)

The Bombay High Court on Friday granted permission for a Muharram procession in the city with stringent restrictions in place in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. A bench of Justices S J Kathawalla and Madhav Jamdar gave permission after the Maharashtra government granted hearing to a local Shia Muslim organisation that had petitioned the court seeking permission for a symbolic procession for Muharram amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The state government and the petitioner, All India Idaara-E-Tahafuz-E-Hussainiyat, reached an agreement and informed the court of the same on Friday, following which, the court granted permission for the procession. (PTI)

The COVID-19 tally in Dharavi, the largest slum in Mumbai, went up to 2,745 on Friday with the addition of five cases, a senior civic official said. Out of the total count of patients, 2,392 have already recovered from the infection and discharged from hospitals, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) official said. Dharavi currently has 93 active COVID-19 cases, he said. (PTI)

Ahead of the next phase of unlocking in Maharashtra, the Hotel and Restaurant Association of Western India (HRAWI) on Friday urged the state government to allow hotels to operate with full capacity. "Right now, the industry's biggest challenge is survival. One of the worst affected industries during this pandemic is the hospitality industry and we are in a dire need of the state government's support," said HRAWI President Gurbaxish Singh Kohli in a statement. HRAWI also urged the government to allow sale of liquor at restaurants and also recommended that open spaces and terraces be used at the premises of these establishments. "Allowing the sale of liquor will be a boon to not only restaurants but also to the state in terms of the tax revenues. As the government already allows sale of liquor online and at stores, it should also be permitted at restaurants as well," HRAWI Vice-President Pradeep Shetty said. (PTI)

As many as 346 personnel of Maharashtra police tested positive for coronavirus, while two died of the infection in the last 24 hours, news agency PTI quotes an official as saying. With the addition of the new cases, the state police's COVID-19 tally has reached 14,641 and the casualties stood at 148, the official said. A total of 2,741 police personnel are currently undergoing treatment at various hospitals, whereas 11,752 have so far recovered from the infection, he said. Meanwhile, the police have registered 2,43,595 offences and arrested 34,017 persons for violating prohibitory orders, the official added.

For three consecutive days now, the number of Coronavirus-related deaths in the country have exceeded 1,000. There have been days earlier when more deaths have been reported, but those have mainly been a result of some state clubbing together large number of previously unreported deaths. Never before have more than 1,000 deaths been reported on two consecutive days. And in the last three days, there has been no unusual addition of deaths from previous days.

The increase in the number of deaths have coincided with a big jump in the number of new infections being detected. More than 75,000 new cases have been discovered in the last two days. Before this, the numbers had remained well below 70,000 for more than three weeks. So, it can be tempting to correlate the rise in cases and increase in deaths as part of the same trend. But that is not the case.

The Supreme Court on Friday said that states and universities cannot promote students without holding final year exams. The court, however, added that they can approach UGC to seek an extension of deadline for holding exams. Earlier, the University Grant Commission guidelines asked universities to hold exams by September 30.

Refusing to quash the July 6 UGC guidelines, the court also said that if any State Disaster Management Authority has decided to postpone exams in view of the situation, that will prevail.