By PTI
MUMBAI: Maharashtra on Saturday reported 49,447 fresh COVID-19 cases, the highest rise in a day so far, taking the tally to 29,53,523 while 277 fatalities pushed the toll to 55,656, the state health department said.
Mumbai city also registered 9,108 new infections, the highest spike in a single day.
Previously, Maharashtra had recorded the highest number of 24,619 cases in a day on September 17, 2020.
With 1,84,404 new tests, the total number of samples tested so far in Maharashtra rose to 2,03,43,123, the department said.
The case recovery rate in the state now stands at 84.49 per cent while the fatality rate is 1.88 per cent, it said.
Of the 277 fatalities, 132 deaths had occurred in the last 48 hours, the statement said.
A total of 37,821 patients were discharged during the day, taking the count of recoveries in Maharashtra so far to 24,95,315, it said.
The state is now left with 4,01,172 active cases.
Out of the total population tested so far, 14.52 per cent have tested positive for the virus.
Currently,21,57,135 people remain admitted in the home quarantine while 18,994 people are in the institutional quarantine, the department said.
Earlier in the day, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said the state government was considering diverting all industrial use oxygen supply for medical use.
In an online interaction with newspaper owners, editors and distributors, Thackeray said a decision on imposing stringent measures to tackle the pandemic will be taken soon but he did not confirm if there will be a statewide lockdown.
The CM also discussed ways to break the virus transmission chain with owners of gyms, multiplexes, and newspaper editors.
Thackeray had on Friday said the health infrastructure would be overwhelmed if the present situation continues for another fortnight in the state.
On Saturday, the Mumbai division, comprising Mumbai city and its satellite towns, recorded 15,989 cases and 58 deaths, taking the tally to 9,35,371 and fatalities to 20,578, the department said.
Nashik division reported 8,418 fresh cases, including 2,459 infections in Nashik city.
Pune division saw 12,268 cases, including 5,778 infections in Pune city and 2,798 detections in Pimpri Chinchwad, the department said.
Nagpur division reported 5,747 cases, including 2,853 infections in Nagpur city, followed by 2,693 infections in Latur division, 1,940 in Akola division, 1,877 in Aurangabad division, and 515 cases in Kolhapur division, it said.
Meanwhile, in Mumbai, 43,597 new tests were conducted during the day, out of which 9,090 people tested positive for coronavirus, the city civic body said.
The case recovery rate in the Mumbai district is 83 per cent while the overall growth rate of cases from March 27 to April 2 is 1.54 per cent.
The doubling rate of cases in Mumbai is now 44 days.
The COVID-19 figures in Maharashtra are as follows: Positive cases 29,53,523, deaths 55,656, rcoveries 24,95,315, active cases 4,01,172, total tests 2,03,43,123, tests today 1,84,404.
Meanwhile, the Pune district administration has launched an initiative to vaccinate approximately 30 lakh people against COVID-19 amid a sharp spike in infections over the past few days, officials said on Saturday.
The district saw 9,086 cases on Friday and the health directorate of Maharashtra has said chances of the daily addition touching the 10000-mark on April 6 and 7 were high, they added.
“Such a sharp rise could trigger a shortage of health infrastructure. We are currently vaccinating 50,000 people per day. We plan to cover one lakh people per day so that all 30 lakh eligible beneficiaries, as per figures provided by the Centre, can be vaccinated in Pune district as soon as possible,” an official said.
He said the aim was to vaccinate 1.1 lakh people from Monday.
The state will also make an adequate number of beds and ambulances available for the treatemnt of COVID-19 patients, state minister Eknath Shinde said on Saturday.
Shinde inaugurated via a video link the COVID dedicated health centre set up by the CIDCO at Kalamboli in Panvel in Navi Mumbai.
“The rapid increase in the number of patients is the matter of a great concern,” Shinde added.
