Mumbai News LIVE Updates: City reports 267 new Covid-19 cases, four deaths

A day after six districts from Maharashtra came under Centre’s scanner for less than 50% single dose coverage, district and state officials contested the numbers saying that there were no districts with less than 50% vaccination of adult population. PM Narendra Modi is scheduled to hold a review meeting with these six districts to discuss why their coverage was below the national average (78%). The Centre said that 48 districts in the country have not vaccinated even 50% of their adult population. From Maharashtra were Aurangabad (46.5%), Nandurbar (46.9%), Buldhana (47.6%), Hingoli (47.8%), Nanded (48.4%) and Akola (49.3%). The state on Monday held a preparatory meeting to discuss what their responses would be when Modi interacts with local officials on Wednesday.

The outbreak of Covid-19 among medical students at KEM hospital, Parel was caused by the Delta variant and its derivatives. A month ago, almost 30 MBBS students had tested positive for coronavirus, following which a round of mass testing and genome sequencing of the positive samples were carried out. Additional municipal commissioner Suresh Kakani confirmed that 43 samples were sent for genome sequencing, of which 34 were found to be Delta and nine were Delta derivatives.

The average weekly Covid positivity rate in Thane city has dropped to a three-month low. Officials have attributed the same to increased surveillance and vaccination. Officials claimed they intensified daily testing and tracing of suspected patients. Civic data revealed the average seven-day positivity ratio recorded in the week ending October 28 was 1.41%, which is the lowest recorded since the first week of August after the cities had opened up following the second wave. The second lowest count was in mid-August at 1.56%, while the week ending October 7 saw the highest average positivity rate at 3.1%.

Single and return journey daily ticket sales on Western and Central Railway crossed the 2-lakh mark on Day 1 on Sunday. A total 2.1 lakh daily tickets were sold, with 83,000 on WR and 1.28 lakh on CR. It was still short of over 3-lakh sale of daily tickets to essential workers on an average on Sundays in October. The sale of tickets was stopped on October 27. The state government on Sunday directed CR and WR officials to resume issuing of daily journey tickets from booking counters on suburban networks to essential and non-essential travellers. Tickets are being issued to double vaccinated passengers who have completed 14 days since the last dose.

Covid-19 cases and deaths hit an 18-month low in Maharashtra on Monday as 809 cases and 10 deaths were reported. The state reported 809 new cases, the lowest addition in a 24-hour period since May 3 last year (when 678 cases were added). Fifteen districts and nine municipal corporations did not register any new case. Deaths dropped to 10 on Sunday, the lowest since April 20 last year (when nine deaths were reported), with 30 districts not recording any fatality in a day.

Nine years after nine families of a Santacruz (West) building vacated their homes for redevelopment, they will move into their new homes on Tuesday. The Bombay high court has directed the builder to give them “actual physical possession on Dhanteras, 2nd November 2021, by 1pm”. “It is a Diwali gift for us,” Ashwin Shah, secretary of the Santacruz West End CHSL, told TOI. The order by Justice Gautam Patel came on a contempt petition filed by the society against K Mordani Builders over the delay.