Maharashtra Covid lockdown news live updates: State accounts for 61% of daily Covid-19 cases
With a steady rise in Covid-19 cases, the Maharashtra government has issued a notification stating that private establishments that do not follow the standard operating procedure (SOP) will be shut down till the pandemic continues to be notified as a disaster by the Centre. The state government reiterated the norms that must be followed by private establishments such as theatres, restaurants, malls, wedding halls and private offices. Multiplexes and restaurants have been allowed to function at 50% capacity and allowing more than the stipulated number will also amount to a violation. The government has also asked these establishments to ensure the presence of enough manpower to enforce the mask rule as well as social distancing. The notification will be in force till March 31. Stay with TOI for all the latest updates:
Aurangabad district collector and district magistrate and police commissioner issued prohibitory order for public gathering till April 4. As per the order, 5 or more people are not permitted to gather, in view of Covid-19 spread.
BMC chief honoured for Covid control in Mumbai
Mumbai' Municipal Commissioner I. S. Chahal was conferred the 'Lokmat Maharashtrian of the Year 2021 Award' for his meritorious efforts to control the spread of the Covid-19 scourge in the city. Unon finance minister Nirmal Sitharaman presented the award to Chahal, who dedicated it to 'Team BMC', at a function in New Delhi on Tuesday.
1,271 new Covid-19 cases in Aurangabad, 7 more deaths
With the addition of 1,271 new cases of coronavirus, the tally in Maharashtra's Aurangabad district has gone up to 60,100, an official said on Wednesday. Besides these new cases reported on Tuesday, seven more people also succumbed to the viral infection, raising the death toll in the district to 1,351, he said. So far, 52,073 people have recovered from the infection, while there are 6,676 active Covid-19 cases in the district at present, he said.
Maharashtra accounts for 61% of daily Covid-19 cases
India on Wednesday logged 28,903 new Covid-19 cases and 188 fatalities in the last 24 hours, with five states driving up the daily cases. Maharashtra alone accounts for 61.8 per cent of the daily new cases with 17,864 cases. It is followed by Kerala with 1,970 while Punjab reported 1,463 new cases. Five states - Maharashtra, Punjab, Karnataka, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu - collectively account for 71.10 per cent of the new cases.
Inoculation site venues to go up to 300 in Pune
The number of Covid-19 vaccination centres in the district will be increased to 300 from the existing 232 within a week. The number of such centres in the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) limits would be increased to 100 from 86 and 50 from 26, respectively, in the current week, a senior health official said on Tuesday. Similarly, 30 new vaccination centres would come up in the rural belt.
As cases dip after curbs, Amravati gets day-time relief
Granting relaxation in Covid restrictions in the district, collector Shailesh Naval on Tuesday issued fresh orders enabling shops and other establishments to remain open between 9am and 5pm. The order will come into force from 6am of March 18. Naval made it mandatory for shop and establishment owners to submit a certificate vis-a-vis Covid test of their employees, failing which shops will be sealed. The collector said essential services like health, police, disaster management, banks etc would remain fully operational, while government offices would be allowed to function with 25% of its total staff or 25 persons, whichever is less.
Covid patients in private hospitals more than double in NMC, govt
The number of Covid-19 patients in private hospitals is more than double than that in government-run and Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) hospitals in the district. Also, over 83% patients are in home isolation. Due to sudden spike, active cases in the district on Tuesday jumped to 18,980, which is second highest in the country after Pune. Of these, status of 16,393 patients could be known from the data released by civil surgeon. As on date, 13,862 (73%) patients were in home isolation and 2,531 (13.34%) in hospitals and Covid Care Centres (CCCs). Status of 2,587 (13.63%) persons, who tested positive on Tuesday, was not known.
Strict norms get stricter: All shops to shut at 1pm in Nagpur
The strict weeklong lockdown gets even stricter from Wednesday. Municipal commissioner Radhakrishnan B on Tuesday announced that all standalone shops dealing with essential commodities – except medical shops – can operate only till 1pm. Vegetable and fruit cart vendors will also be allowed to operate in the day, a notification from the municipal commissioner said. Owing to the spike in novel coronavirus cases, district guardian minister Nitin Raut had imposed a weeklong lockdown in the city and district from March 15 to 21. However, essential services such as standalone grocery shops, vegetable and fruit shops, meat shops, milk booths etc were allowed to transact business till 9pm.
The aim behind drawing containment zones is to create awareness about the Covid-19 spread and also to control it. Public participation has to be increased to control the spread of the virus. We are roping in housing societies and their office bearers to keep an eye on the positive patients to reduce violations
Ashish Bharati, head of PMC’s health department
Infographic: Active Covid cases in Pune above 24,000
School employees told to return to work-from-home regime
After the Union health secretary’s censure over the “limited” efforts to track, test and isolate Covid-19 cases in Maharashtra, the public health machinery here seems to have gone into an overdrive. Plans to double tests conducted daily to 2 lakh, micromapping of hotspots and aggressive institutional quarantining seem to be among immediate steps to be implemented.
Nagpur hits all-time high in infection numbers
The Centre’s observation on Tuesday that Maharashtra is on the verge of the second Covid-19 wave coincided with the highest single-day detections (17,864) in the state since September 30, 2020. While Mumbai and Pune districts recorded high daily tallies of 3,671 and 3,994 respectively, Nagpur district recorded its highest detections ever since the outbreak of the pandemic in March 2020 with 2,587 cases. Active cases have risen to 18,980 in Nagpur, which is the second highest in the country after Pune.
Daily cases jump above 3,500 as testing soars
The daily Covid-19 case count jumped to almost six-month high of 3,574 in the Pune Metropolitan Region (PMR) on Tuesday on increased sample testing, which surged to 17,139, the highest since September17, 2020. Despite a surge in cases, the fatality rate in the region has remained low. Twelve people succumbed to the infection in the last 24 hours in the region. The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) conducted 8,044 tests on Tuesday, followed by the Pimpri Chinchwad areas (5,829) and the rural pockets (3,266).
Over 1k micro-containment zones in PMC, PCMC limits
The Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad municipal corporations have declared 1,016 micro-containment zones in their limits till March 15. There were 121 micro-containment zones in the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) limits and 895 restricted zones in the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) limits till March 15. More containment zones were located in the urban areas. On an average, around2,500 positive cases per day were recorded in both civic limits in the last fortnight.
Drink, pay, leave... Curbs deny bar patrons time to chill
Timing restrictions as well as limits on the number of patrons in bars is killing the buzz of wining and dining out in the city. The restaurant and bar business has turned into a race against time to generate as much revenue in as little time, even if it means not letting customers settle down with their drink. Relaxing at a bar with a chilled mug of beer or a peg of whisky now remains a distant memory — an indication of how the pandemic has changed yet another aspect of our lives. The restrictions include pulling down shutters by 10pm and operating at 50% occupancy.
Plan for ‘worst-case scenario’, Centre tells Maharashtra after spike
In the wake of a rising number of Covid-19 cases in Maharashtra, the Centre has issued a strong warning to the state government and asked it to plan for a “worst-case scenario” in the coming months. Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan has written to the state chief secretary cautioning the administration on inadequate contact tracing efforts while urging that it must focus on strict and effective containment strategies. He also emphasised on the need to ramp up vaccination, particularly in districts with high caseload.
17,864 new coronavirus cases in Maharashtra, 87 deaths
The coronavirus situation in Maharashtra became grimmer on Tuesday as the state recorded 17,864 new cases -- highest one-day rise this year -- and 87 deaths, a health official said. The caseload in the state rose to 23,47,328 and death toll reached 52,996. (PTI)
Over 10,000 senior citizens, and people aged 45 and above with underlying conditions, received Covaxin jab across Pune civic limits on Tuesday.
With the addition of 1,354 new cases of coronavirus, the tally of infections in Maharashtra's Nashik district rose to 1,36,320 on Tuesday, an official said. Apart from this, eight persons died of the infection during the day, taking the toll in the district to 2,184, the official said. (ANI)
Pune reports 3,574 fresh Covid-19 cases, 1,577 recoveries, and 12 deaths in the last 24 hours. (ANI)