More than 35,000 police personnel will be deployed across Mumbai to ensure incident-free immersion of idols of Lord Ganesh on Tuesday, an official said on Monday. He said about 5,000 CCTV cameras will keep a close watch on immersion, which is expected to be low-key sans processions this year in view of COVID-19 restrictions. Various wings of the police department including the State Reserve Police Force (SRPF), Riots Control Unit, Rapid Action Force (RAF), and Home Guards will be manning the streets on Tuesday. (PTI)

Announcing ‘Unlock 4’ guidelines, the Maharashtra government announced significant easing of restrictions, including lifting restrictions on inter-district movement of persons and goods and raising attendance in its offices. Hotels and lodges will be allowed to operate at 100 per cent capacity from September 2, but schools, colleges, cinema halls and swimming pools will continue to remain closed till September 30. Read more here

Around 43 per cent of the total coronavirus cases in India have been recorded from just three states, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, the Union health ministry said on Monday. It asserted that the Centre is regularly engaging with the states and Union Territories that are reporting a spurt in cases and those with a higher fatality rate.

Such states and Union Territories have been advised to undertake aggressive measures to ensure higher testing, effective clinical management to lower fatality and save lives along with efficient monitoring at various levels, the health ministry said.  "India has registered 78,512 cases in the last 24 hours (August 30). Hence the report by certain media entities of about 80,000 cases in the last 24 hours is without any basis," it said.

The ministry also said that seven states have contributed to 70 per cent of these new cases in the last 24 hours. Of these, Maharashtra has contributed the maximum caseload amounting to almost 21 per cent, followed by Andhra Pradesh 13.5 per cent, Karnataka 11.27 per cent and Tamil Nadu with 8.27 per cent.

Several Warkaris and members of the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi launched a protest on Monday demanding reopening of the famous temple of Lord Vitthal in Pandharpur town of Maharashtra's Solapur district, PTI reported. The protesters gathered near the temple, which has been shut due to the coronavirus-induced restrictions, and demanded that it be opened for devotees. "We are waiting for a response from the district collector," said Ambedkar. To a question on protesters gathering in a large number and there being no social distancing, he said it is the sentiments of people that have brought them to Pandharpur.

A week-long lockdown with stricter provisions will be enforced in Chandrapur city from September 3 in view of the rising cases, the district administration has said, PTI reported. A notification issued by Collector Ajay Gulhane on Sunday said all shops, including those of essential commodities, will remain closed during the lockdown. Only medical shops and emergency services will be allowed to operate during the seven-long lockdown, it said.

Pune district in Maharashtra reported 3,856 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, taking the total infection count to 1,68,381, a health official said on Sunday. With 73 deaths, the toll rose to 4,061 in the district. "Of the 3,856 cases, the highest 1,658 were reported from the limits of the Pune Municipal Corporation, which now has 94,497 patients. The count of infections in Pimpri Chinchwad and Pune Cantonment Board and other rural areas reached 48,773 and 25,147, respectively," the official said. A total of 1,502 patients were discharged in the day, he added.

While the national recovery rate of Covid-19 patients is pegged at 76.47 per cent, industrial city Pimpri-Chinchwad’s recovery rate hovers around 74 per cent. It has dropped from a high of 80 per cent, which was recorded in June. On Sunday evening, PCMC released the figures of positive patients and those recovered till date. As many as 48,000 people have been infected by coronavirus while around 34,000 have recovered till date. “As of now our recovery percentage is at 74 per cent which is just two per cent less than the national average recovery rate,” said Municipal Commissioner Shravan Hardikar. On Wednesday, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar had emphasised on the need to reduce positive cases as well as bring the mortality rate down.

The Shiv Sena today targeted the BJP for seeking reopening of temples in Maharashtra, and asked whether the NDA constituent will take responsibility if there is an "explosion" of Covid cases again. Noting that Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis had said people understand how to observe social distancing when temples are reopened, the Shiv Sena countered him referring to the "flouting of the norms" during his party's protest. Therefore, the opposition leaders should first understand the situation in Maharashtra before raising the demand, it said. "Will the opposition party take responsibility if there is an explosion of Covid-19 again?" the Sena asked in an editorial of party mouthpiece Saamana. It wondered whether the BJP's protest was "religious or political", and said opposition leaders should first try to understand why temples had to be shut. "The Covid-19 has spread wherever schools and places of worship were reopened. Tirupati Balaji temple has been hit due to it," the Uddhav Thackeray-led party said.

Director of Medical Research at Jaslok Hospital, Dr Rajesh Parikh, who co-authored ‘The Coronavirus: What You Need To Know About The Global Pandemic’ with internal medicine specialist and healthcare entrepreneur Dr Swapneil Parikh and clinical psychologist Maherra Desai, said the book published by Penguin Random House has been received warmly by readers since its release on August 15. While a sequel is in the works, he discusses the Dharavi model, the role of Artificial Intelligence in our future and the many challenges ahead with Mayura Janwalkar. Read here.

The coronavirus pandemic has left Donald, Daisy, Popeye, Olive, Flipper, Bubble and Mr Molt without an audience for the past few months. But looking at them playfully walk and swim around their enclosure, it seems that the penguins, the seven most celebrated birds at Byculla zoo, don’t seem to be too upset with their newfound privacy. After having spent over two years under the constant human gaze, zookeepers here say that the penguins seemed more relaxed, responsive and active in the past five months. And it is not just the birds. Most animals at the zoo have become less shy and stress-free since the zoo closed for the public on March 15 due to the coronavirus pandemic. Prior to the lockdown, the zoo on an average saw 15,000 visitors on weekdays. Their numbers jumped over 30,000 on weekends, with the penguins remaining the cynosure of all attraction. Click here to read more.

With 78,512 Covid cases in 24 hours, the tally in India rose to 3,621,246 on Monday.

The Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court recently struck down an order passed by the administration in Jalna to shut down a hospital and said notwithstanding the Covid-19 pandemic, a hospital cannot be closed without following the due process of law. A division bench of Justice Ravindra V Ghuge and Shrikant D Kulkarni on August 27 heard a writ plea by Dr Ritesh Omprakash Agrawal challenging the action against his hospital. The bench struck down an order issued by the district administration on August 21 that cancelled the registration of Agrawal’s Arogyam Hospital in Jalna. The HC observed that no notice was issued to the doctor before issuing the order.

Barricades have been put up in Pandharpur town in Solapur district of Maharashtra to prevent members of the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) and Warkaris from holding any protest on Monday for reopening of the famous temple of Lord Vitthal, police said on Sunday. The VBA, led by Prakash Ambedkar, had supported the demand of the Vishwa Warkari Sena (VWS), an outfit of devotees of Lord Vitthal, to reopen the temple, which has been shut due to the pandemic. "In view of the agitation called by VBA and VWS in Pandharpur, we have barricaded roads leading to Pandharpur and to the temple," Atul Zene, Additional Superintendent of Police, Solapur, was quoted as saying by PTI. He said 400 police personnel have been deployed and nakabadi checking is underway. "We are taking all precautions to ensure that there is no spread of coronavirus during the agitation," the ASP said.

With a single-day spike of 16,408 cases, the state's Covid-19 tally climbed to 7,80,689 on Sunday, the state health department said. The death of 296 patients during the day pushed the fatality count to 24,399, it said. As many as 7,690 patients were discharged on Sunday following recovery, it added. With this, the number of recovered patients has gone up to 5,62,401. There are 1,93,548 active cases in the state at present.

Five districts of Maharashtra have recorded over a 400 per cent rise in Covid-19 cases since last month. Officials said they are struggling to create adequate critical care treatment facility in these districts – Beed, Sangli, Kolhapur, Osmanabad and Nagpur – which have also shown a massive rise in the toll. Read more here

With a single-day spike of 16,408 cases, Maharashtra's COVID-19 tally climbed to 7,80,689 on Sunday, the state health department said. The death of 296 patients during the day pushed the fatality count to 24,399, it said. As many as 7,690 patients were dischargedon Sunday following recovery, it added. With this, the number of recovered patients has gone up to 5,62,401.

The coronavirus fatality count in Nagpur district of Maharashtra crossed the 1,000-mark after 32 patients succumbed to the infection on Sunday, authorities said. The death toll has now reached 1,011, the district information office said in a statement. The district reported 1,313 new cases on Sunday, which pushed the overall count of patients to 28,328, it added.

Maharashtra minister Uday Samant on Sunday said that although the Centre's Unlock guidelines say that schools and colleges will remain shut till September 30, the UGC wants the final year exams to be conducted by that time. Upholding the UGC decision to conduct final year examinations, the Supreme Court had on Friday said that these students can not be promoted without exams. "How can examinations be held by September 30 if schools and colleges are closed. What exactly should the state governments and students do?" Samant asked in a tweet. The Higher and Technical Education Minister said that the committee of vice chancellors, which met on Sunday, will submit its report to the state government on Monday. (PTI)

With a record over 10.5 lakh tests conducted in a day for detection of COVID-19, the number of such tests performed in the country has crossed 4.14 crore, the Union health ministry said on Sunday. The exponential jump in the testing capacity and the number of tests has resulted in an upsurge in Tests Per Million to 30,044 as on date, it highlighted. With a record 10,55,027 tests conducted on Saturday, the country has further strengthened the national diagnostic capacity of testing more than 10 lakh samples for COVID-19 daily. (PTI)