The coronavirus outbreak in Maharashtra has reached a new high with recording 6,875 new cases, taking the overall tally to 2.30 lakh. On Thursday, the state reported 219 new deaths, taking the total death count to 9,667.
Maharashtra remains to be the worst-affected state in India, meanwhile, Dharavi slum a densely populated region in Mumbai which was previously gravely affected, is now showing better results and recorded only nine new cases on Thursday.
In early June, Mumbai accounted for 58.7 per cent of deaths in the state. However, the situation has now improved, and the city only contributes 31 per cent of total deaths.
Since the ease of lockdown restrictions in Mumbai, Thane and other two-tier cities have been witnessing a continuous surge in new coronavirus cases. Thane district has a sudden spike from 10,865 to 52,733 cases. On Wednesday, the district added 1,904 new cases to its total case count.
On Wednesday, BMC officials informed, Mumbai has conducted 3.64 lakh COVID-19 tests and ramped the testing from 4,000 to 5,500 sample tests per day.
On the other hand, several regions outside Pune's containment zones are witnessing a spurt of new COVID-19 cases. In order to contain the virus, Pune police is now taking strict actions against those who violate lockdown rules and social distancing norms.
In the last five days, Pimpri-Chinchwad has also intensified its actions against violators, and are strictly monitoring vehicle movements.
Maharashtra recently opened its hotel industry, and the hotels saw a lukewarm response on their first day of resuming activities. However, the owners are expecting no less, as they know the business won't pick or get back to 'normal' until after six months.
Edited by: Pranav Jalan
