Maharashtra sees nearly 50,000 coronavirus cases, biggest one-day rise

State capital Mumbai on Saturday reported over 9,000 cases for the first time since the pandemic began last year. Around 681 buildings in the city have been sealed, said BMC

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. Around 681 buildings in the city have been sealed, said BMC.

Previously, on September 17, 2020, Maharashtra had recorded the highest number of 24,619 cases in a day.

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.

Nagpur witnessed as many as 3,720 persons tested positive for coronavirus, while 47 died of the infection during the same period.

The Maharashtra government will make an adequate number of beds and ambulances available for the treatment of Covid-19 patients, state minister Eknath Shinde has said.

Earlier during the day, Varsha Gaikwad announced that all board students from classes 1 to 8 will be promoted without the examinations in view of the current coronavirus situation.

In a brief video message, the Maharashtra's education minister said that decision regarding students of class 9 and 11 will soon be taken.

Uddhav Thackeray, who chaired a meeting yesterday with bureaucrats in the evening, painted a grim picture of the Covid-19 situation.

The Maharashtra chief minister warned that the state will announce stricter curbs in a day or two, and said a lockdown will be imposed if the situation did not improve.

He urged rival political parties and critics to come forward and help frontline workers and assist the state in mobilising extra doctors.