With 985 COVID-19 deaths, Maharashtra on Wednesday registered the highest single-day fatality count since the pandemic outbreak. With this, the death toll in the state has jumped to 67,214.
Besides, 63,309 new COVID-19 cases were recorded in the day, taking the total number of active cases to 6,73,481.
61,181 patients were discharged in the day, taking the tally to 37,30,729. The recovery rate in the state stands at 83.4%. The case fatality rate in the state is 1.5%.
Currently, 42,03,574 people are in home quarantine and 31,159 people are in institutional quarantine.
The Mumbai circle --which consists of MCGM, Thane, TMC, Navi Mumbai, KDMC, Ulhasnagar MC, Bhivandi Nijampur MC, Mira Bhayandar MC, Palghar, Vasai Virar MC, Raigad, Panvel MC--recorded 12,782 new cases on Wednesday.
The Nashik circle--which consists of Nashik, Nashik MC, Malegaon MC, Ahmednagar, Ahmednagar MC, Dhule, Dhule MC, Jalgaon, Jalgaon MC, Nandurbar--reported 10,015 fresh COVID-19 cases.
The Pune circle--which includes Pune, PMC, PCMC, Solapur, Solapur MC, Satara--recorded 13,137 new cases.
The Kolhapur circle reported 3538 new cases, Aurangabad circle 3666, Latur circle 3965, Akola circle 3422, and Nagpur circle recorded 12784 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday announced that the state has decided to vaccinate citizens in the age group of 18 to 44 against COVID-19 free of cost in government hospitals. Thackeray made the announcement about free vaccines after chairing a cabinet meeting.
Health Minister Rajesh Tope said the state will cover 5.71 crore citizens from this age group and it would cost Rs 6,500 crore to the government. Tope, however, said the vaccination drive beginning May 1 cannot be launched in the state due to unavailability of sufficient number of vaccine doses.
