Mumbai News LIVE: City reports 8,496 new COVID-19 cases; No death in Maharashtra due to oxygen shortage, says Tope

Maharashtra Health Minister RajeshTope on Sunday said that no COVID-19 patient died in the state-run hospitals due to the shortage of medical oxygen.He also said most of the COVID-19 fatalities have occurred due to the delay on part of patients in seeking proper medical treatment.Tope termed "false" the media reports that the shortage of medical oxygen resulted in the death of COVID-19 patients in some parts of the state.

The red, green and yellowstickers that emergency and essential service vehicles need to sport as part of an initiative to curb traffic on Mumbai roads during the coronavirus-induced 'break the chain' restrictions will have to be prepared by vehicle owners and won't be provided by police, an official said on Sunday.Under the initiative, vehicles belonging to doctors, medical staff, ambulances and those engaged in supplying medical equipment will have to sport red stickers, and those transporting food, vegetables, fruits, groceries, dairy products, etc, will use green stickers.People employed in essential services, such as civic officials, personnel of electricity, telephone and press departments, will have to stick yellow stickers on their vehicles.

As many as 68,631 fresh COVID-19 cases and 503 deaths were reported from Maharashtra in the last 24 hours, the highest in the state so far since the pandemic broke out last year.With this, the total number of active cases in the state now stands at 6,70,388, the state health department informed.So far, as many as 31,06,828 recoveries and 60,473 deaths have been reported.

The Brihanmumbai MunicipalCorporation (BMC) had to shift 168 COVID-19 patients from six civic-run hospitals as these facilities ran out of oxygen, a top official said on Sunday.These patients had to be moved to other hospitals early on Saturday, he said."Between 1 am and 5 am on 17 April, the civic authorities shifted 168 patients from Mumbai's six hospitals, including 30 from the ICUs, to jumbo field hospitals of the BMC, saving the life of each one of them," Mumbai civic chief Iqbal Singh Chahal said.It had to be done because these six hospitals ran out of oxygen owing to the problem of limited oxygen being supplied to the BMC, he said.

BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis, whois being targeted by the ruling parties in Maharashtra for objecting to Mumbai police's grilling of a pharma company's top executive over alleged stocking of Remdesivir vials, on Sunday said he was not afraid of any inquiry against him as he has not done anything wrong.Speaking to reporters atthe Nagpur airport on the issue of of questioning of Bruck Pharma company's director over the Remdesivir stock, said, "I am not afraid of any inquiry because I have worked in the opposition for 20 years and have 36 cases against me for the sake of people."He said he would go to any limit to work in the interest of people of Maharashtra.

The Narcotics Control Bureau(NCB) apprehended three persons in two operations in Mumbai and Thane and seized 220 grams of MD drug, 43 kg ganja and Rs 20 lakh cash, an official said on Sunday.These operations were conducted in Mumbai city and Badlapur town in neighbouring Thane district on Saturday and Sunday, he said.In the first operation, the NCB seized 165 grams of MD from Sarfaraz Querashi alias Pappy, a resident of Agripada, the official said."During the search of his house, Rs 2 lakh cash, the proceeds of drugs, were recovered," he said, adding that in the past, Sarfaraz had been booked under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act by the Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC) of the Mumbai police, he said.