Mumbai broke another record today as it reported 5,185 new Covid-19 cases in 24 hours. This is the first time that the city, which ranks third in the Centre’s list of top 10 worst-affected cities, has reported over 5,000 cases since the pandemic began last year. The massive surge, despite various restrictions being in place, prompted the BMC to urge Mumbaikars to exercise caution and follow all precautions.
High Numbers, High Alert!The number of new cases in the city has crossed the 5000 mark – highest since the start of the pandemic.
Time has come to ensure we all follow COVID-19 prevention norms rigorously and not drop our guards till we achieve #MissionZero #NaToCorona
— माझी Mumbai, आपली BMC (@mybmc) March 24, 2021
To prevent infection from spreading, the BC has also prohibited Holi celebrations in public places and made negative RT_PCR tests mandatory for those visiting malls.
Mumbai’s Andheri (west) has become a Covid-19 hotspot, with its civic ward recording the highest number of cases among all the 24 municipal wards in the city, authorities are planning to shut down access to Juhu beach.
Maharashtra also reported as many as 31,855 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, its highest ever single-day spike since the outbreak of the pandemic last year, a health official said. This took the state’s overall caseload to 25,64,881.
Before this, the state’s highest daily spike of 30,535 cases was recorded on March 21. With 95 new deaths, the fatality count rose to 53,684.
As 15,098 patients were discharged during the day, the recovery count reached 22,62,593. The number of active COVID- 19 cases now is 2,47,299, he said. Mumbai city reported its highest single-day tally of 5,190 cases, which pushed its overall tally to 3,74,641. As many as 11,610 people have died so far in the city.
Mumbai’s two neighbouring cities Navi Mumbai and Kalyan-Dombivli- reported 566 and 929 new cases, respectively. Pune city and its neighbouring industrial township of Pimpri Chinchwad reported 3,566 and 1,828 new cases respectively. Aurangabad city reported 899 cases on Wednesday. In Nagpur city of Vidarbha region 2,965 new cases were found.
In North Maharashtra region, Nashik city reported 859 cases, while Jalgaon district recorded 725 new cases. With 1,40,844 tests conducted during the day, the state has so far carried out 1,87,25,307 tests.
Rate of Increase Triples in 1 Month
The rate of increase in coronavirus cases in Maharashtra between February 14 to March 23 was three times that recorded in the previous four months, data revealed. After a steady decline since October, the new cases surged noticeably since February 14.
On March 20, Maharashtra reported over 30,000 new cases, the highest since the pandemic began. Between February 14 and March 23, in a span of 37 days, 4,68,748 cases were added in the state, taking the caseload to 25,33,026. On an average, 12,668 cases were added daily.
Maharashtra had gram panchayat elections in some 12,000 villages in January, followed by big political gatherings. Some health experts blamed the later surge in cases on these events. “People continued flouting safety norms and during the same period the virus started mutating and became more infectious,” a senior health official said.
“The new strain is more infectious. We have to find out more about the strain and how it responds to the ongoing vaccination drive,” he added. The average daily fatality count, however, is lower since February 14 compared to the earlier period.
(With PTI inputs)
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