With 180 people succumbing to the infection in a day, the state death toll went up to 35,751. (Express file photo by Praveen Khanna)Maharashtra, Mumbai, Pune Coronavirus HIGHLIGHTS: With the current lockdown in Maharashtra coming to end on September 30, the government has framed standard operating procedures (SOPs) for reopening of restaurants and a decision will be taken once these guidelines are finalised, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said Monday. The chief minister said this while interacting with the representatives of associations of restaurateurs from Mumbai, Pune, Aurangabad and Nagpur via video conferencing.
Maharashtra’s Covid-19 tally reached 13,51,153 on Monday with the one-day jump of 11,921 fresh cases, state health department said. With 180 people succumbing to the infection, the death toll went up to 35,751, it said. Of the 180 deaths reported on Monday, 98 were from the past 48 hours, while 45 fatalities had occurred last week and another 37 deaths were from the period before the last week, the department said.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has initiated the process of purchasing real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test kits after the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) discontinued its supply to states from September. The current stock of RT-PCR kits with the BMC will last till end-October, officials said. An RT-PCR test is considered to be the most reliable Covid-19 testing method as compared to rapid antigen tests, where there are high chances of ‘false negative’. The average cost of a RT-PCR kit is Rs 450.
There are 17,787 active Covid-19 cases in Thane district while 1,49,632 people have recovered from the infection so far.