Total lockdown likely in these two districts of Maharashtra as COVID-19 transmission continues

NEW DELHI: The Uddhav Thackeray-led Maharashtra government may impose a total lockdown in the COVID-hit Kolhapur and Sangli districts due to rising COVID-19 transmission.

According to media reports, the state government is awaiting a report from the Central team of experts that recently visited the two districts to review the situation there.

The Central team, which has expressed concern over rising COVID-19 transmission in the two districts despite a series of measures, has recommended a total lockdown, according to sources.

Rajesh Tope, the state health minister, has said that there are 10 districts that have a higher positivity rate as compared to the rest of the state. He added that the Central team that visited some of them has emphasised on measures like testing, contact tracing, and vaccination.

Tope further said that he would request the Centre for supplying more Covid-19 vaccine doses. 

Maharashtra's coronavirus caseload climbed to 62,20,207 on Monday after 6,017 people tested positive for the infection, the lowest since February 22, while the death toll jumped to 1,27,097 as 66 patients succumbed to COVID-19.

The fresh COVID-19 deaths were the lowest in the last one week. A state government official said as many as 13,051 patients were discharged from hospitals in the last 24 hours, pushing the number of recovered cases to 59,93,401. 

The state now has 96,375 active COVID-19 cases. Maharashtra's COVID-19 recovery rate is 96.35 per cent, while the fatality rate is 2.04 per cent, the official said. Significantly Hingoli, Wardha and Bhandara districts of Maharashtra did not report any new coronavirus infection in the last 24 hours. 

Mumbai reported 403 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, taking the tally to 7,31,561, while the death toll increased to 15,716 with 14 fresh fatalities. 

A total of 1,092 new COVID-19 cases and 24 fatalities were reported in the Mumbai circle - that includes the city and its satellite towns - taking the tally to 16,27,032 and the death toll to 33,284. 

At least 202 people tested positive in Pune municipal limits, pushing the tally to 5,00,690, while the death toll rose to 8,600 after one more patient succumbed to the infection in the city. 

The wider Pune region reported 1,658 new COVID-19 cases and 17 fatalities, taking the tally to 14,66,915 and the death toll to 27,413. The Kolhapur region reported 2,443 new COVID-19 cases and 16 fresh fatalities, according to the health department. 

The Nashik region witnessed 543 new cases, while the daily infection count was 208 in the Latur region. The official said Nagpur, Akola and Aurangabad regions reported 26, 24 and 23 new COVID-19 cases, respectively. According to the official, out of 4,56,48,898 COVID-19 tests done so far in the state, 1,67,646 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours. 

Currently, 5,61,796 people are in home quarantine and 4,052 in institutional quarantine across the state, he said. The highest number of active cases at 15,768 are in Pune district, followed by Thane and Mumbai at 13,632 and 10,422, respectively. 

According to the health department, of the total 59,93,401 recovered patients, the highest at 10,42,911 are from Pune district, followed by Mumbai and Thane at 7,03,066 and 5,64,399, respectively. Coronavirus figures for Maharashtra are as follows: Total cases 62,20,207; new cases 6,017; total deaths 1,27,097; total recoveries 59,93,401; active cases 96,375; total tests 4,56,48,898.