Health workers test for Covid-19 at Mankhud, Mumbai on September 7, 2020. (Express Photo: Amit Chakravarty)Maharashtra, Mumbai Coronavirus News Live Updates: On the second day of the two-day monsoon session of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Tuesday, both Houses are expected to discuss a proposal put forth by the Uddhav Thackery government for additional budgetary grants worth Rs 29,085 to combat the pandemic. The proposal was tabled by Finance Minister Ajit Pawar Monday.
The number of novel coronavirus cases in Maharashtra rose to 9,23,641 on Monday after the state added 16,429 infections to its tally. With 423 deaths, the toll rose to 27,027. Maharashtra has over one-forth the number of cases across India, which stood at over 42.4 lakh (42,04,614) on Tuesday morning.
The state government has further reduced the prices for Covid-19 tests. Now, samples collect at home will cost Rs 2,000, while samples taken by laboratories will be Rs 1,200. If a lab collects samples from a hospital, Covid care centre or drive-through kiosk, the rate has been capped at Rs. 1,600.
Mumbai detected 1,788 new cases on Monday taking the city’s Covid-19 tally to over 1.57 lakh (1,57,410). With 31 deaths, the toll increased to 7,897. Meanwhile, the city’s civic body, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said it would increase the number of tests it conducts daily from around 7,500 to between 11,000-14,000. The BMC chief said 85 per cent of the tests would be RT-PCR while the remaining would be Rapid Antigen test.
In other news, Pune reported 2,093 new cases on Monday, taking its count to over 1.05 lakh (1,05,905). The number of people who have succumbed the disease crossed the 2,500 mark in the city to reach 2,512 after 44 people died.
Policemen ride horses as they patrol a deserted beach in Mumbai, Tuesday, September 1, 2020. (PTI Photo: Kunal Patil)
The Maharashtra government has told the Bombay High Court that opening of religious places, even with guidelines, was not a "practical" solution and it had decided against it till the Covid-19 situation improved.
The state government was responding to a public interest Litigation filed by a local NGO seeking direction that temples in the state be opened for worshippers. The petitioner's counsel Dipesh Siroya had urged the court to direct the state to reopen temples albeit with restrictions such as limiting the number of worshippers at a time. Advocate General Ashutosh Kumbhakoni on Tuesday told a bench headed by Justice Amjad Sayed that while the state had given the suggestion a thought, it had decided against reopening temples and other places of worship.
"The state contemplated but decided it is not feasible to open places of worship as yet because of the rising cases of coronavirus," Kumbhakoni said. The state also filed an affidavit in the high court on Monday, informing about its decision.
For the first time in more than three months, the novel coronavirus numbers in Maharashtra have now started to grow at a faster rate than the country as a whole. The daily growth rate (seven-day compounded rate) in Maharashtra has gone up to 2.21 per cent, while at the national level this has remained at 2.14 per cent.
The increase in daily growth rate has been the result of big jump in the number of daily detection of new cases in Maharashtra in the last three weeks. From a level of about 10,000 to 12,000 cases per day, Maharashtra has beginning to report more than 20,000 cases now. Maharashtra has been the main driver for the surge in national numbers as well. In the last two weeks, India has begun to report more than 75,000 cases per day, even reaching 90,000 cases over the past weekend. Read Amitabh Sinha' explainer here
Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut has been made the chief spokesperson of the Shiv Sena. The party announcement this in a statement today. Raut is also the executive editor 'Saamana', the party's mouthpiece. Two days ago, Raut had demanded Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut apologise for her comments against Mumbai and Maharashtra.
Meanwhile, Congress legislator Ashok (Bhai) Jagtap moved a breach of privilege motion against Ranaut in Legislative Council today for defaming Mumbai.
On Monday, the number of confirmed cases of novel coronavirus infection in Pune reached the two-lakh mark. The infection count in Pune (2.03 lakh) is not just more than any other city, including Delhi (1.93 lakh) or Mumbai (1.57 lakh), but is even more than every state except the five with the highest caseload. What explains Pune’s high Covid-19 count? Amitabh Sinha, Anuradha Mascarenhas and Ajay Jadhav explain
Proceedings of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly are underway. Shiv Sena has moved a Privilege Motion against Republic TV's Managing Director and Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami for making objectionable remarks against Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. Shiv Sena MLA Pratap Sarnaik moved the motion, alleging that Goswami had violated the freedom of expression and made uncharitable remarks against the Chief Minister. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Anil Parab, also from the Shiv Sena, supports the motion amid sloganeering from the BJP in opposition of the motion. Deputy Speaker Narhari Zirwal, the presiding authority, rules that "action as per legislative rules" be taken on the Shiv Sena MLA's proposal. The Vidhan Sabha has been adjourned for ten minutes amid din over the issue.
Sandeep A Ashar reports
Mumbai detected 1,788 new cases of Covid-19 on Monday, taking the city’s Covid-19 tally to 1,57,410. With 31 deaths, the toll increased to 7,897. The city’s civic body, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said it would increase the number of tests it conducts daily from around 7,500 to between 11,000-14,000. The BMC chief said 85 per cent of the tests would be RT-PCR while the remaining would be Rapid Antigen test.
Good morning and welcome to our live blog on the Covid-19 situation in Maharashtra. The number of novel coronavirus cases in the state rose to 9,23,641 on Monday after an additional 16,429 infections were detected. With 423 deaths, the toll rose to 27,027. Follow the blog through the day for the latest news and updates.