MUMBAI: For the second day in a row, the state on Thursday reported over 8,000 cases and the city added over 1,000.
Maharashtra reported 8702 cases and 56 fatalities, taking its total caseload to 21,29,821 and death toll to 51,993. Mumbai reported 1,145 cases on Thursday, a day after reporting 1,167 cases, the highest in 119 days. The city’s caseload stood at 3,22,844.
Two days after the huge “show of strength” by Sena minister Sanjay Rathod at Poharadevi temple in Washim, 19 attendees came positive. The incident prompted many to question if the state would initiate any punitive action against the minister. Education minister Varsha Gaikwad on Thursday directed local administrations to take a call on shutting schools from March 1 if cases continue to surge.
Meanwhile, as Mumbai’s daily growth rate increased to 0.25%, doubling time dropped to 273 days. Five deaths were reported in the city, taking the toll to 11,458. All five had comorbidities and were above the age of 60 years. Dr Avinash Supe, who heads the death audit committee, said despite the surge, the city’s death rate was less than 1%. “But we have to watch the next 10 days to see the real impact of the surge,” he said.
The state on Thursday recorded 56 deaths, a decline from 80 reported on Wednesday. Of the 56 deaths, 20 occurred in the last 48 hours and 36 in the previous weeks, the state update said. Aurangabad circle saw the highest deaths (15) followed by Mumbai circle that registered 13. While Mumbai accounted for five deaths, Kalyan Dombivli saw 10 fatalities. Active cases in the state are 64,260, a jump from 43,701 on February 1.
After reports of school students and teachers testing positive, education minister Gaikwad directed local administrations to decide on keeping schools shut from March 1 if necessary, and until the situation is under control. “The safety of students and teachers is our top priority," she said. Gaikwad has also instructed the local administration to carry out cleaning and disinfection of schools where a Covid-19 outbreak was reported.
Schools for classes IX to XII had reopened, with the exception of MMR, since November 23, and classes V to VIII reopened on January 15. But over the last few days, Nagpur and Pune have shut schools. Washim in Vidarbha saw cluster cases. 229 cases have emerged from a single hostel in a school in Washim district.
(Inputs by Pradeep Gupta and Manoj Badgeri)