Maharashtra reports 587 deaths due to Covid-19 in last 13 days

Maharashtra has reported 587 new deaths due to Covid-19 in the last 13 days, taking the state’s death toll to 1,135, as of Saturday. The first case in Maharashtra was reported on March 11 and till May 3, the state had reported 12,974 coronavirus cases.

But in the last 13 days, the total deaths rose to 1,135 whereas the Covid-19 cases climbed to 30,706, as of Saturday, according to state health department data.

Whereas in Mumbai, the number of cases and deaths doubled in the last 13 days. From 8,800 cases and 343 deaths (as of May 03), the city reported 18,555 cases and 696 deaths as of Saturday.

Maharashtra on Saturday recorded its highest single-day jump in Covid-19 cases with 1,606 new infections, bringing the case count to 30,706.

Mumbai on the other hand recorded 884 new coronavirus infections on Saturday, whereas Pune recorded 161 new Covid-19 cases, while Thane recorded 114, Navi Mumbai 105 and Aurangabad 93.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra has extended the lockdown till May 31.

The fourth phase of the lockdown, which starts from May 18, is expected to have more relaxations for industries and businesses in districts that fall in the green and the orange zones. For the red zone, the state government is open to allowing further relaxations outside the containment area; a decision is expected after getting clarity from the Central government.

A senior bureaucrat said, “We are awaiting Centre’s directives for lockdown protocol in the red zone. As the PM had indicated in his last address that the next phase would be different, we expect that more activities would be allowed outside containment areas. The sense among decision-makers is that we have to live with Covid-19.”

The Centre is yet to issue guidelines for the next phase, following which the Maharashtra government would issue its guidelines.

The state has so far registered 15,181 cases in the third phase of the lockdown, which is higher than the total it recorded in the 19-day lockdown between April 15 and May 3. In the second phase of the lockdown, Maharashtra recorded 11,627 Covid-19 cases.

State health minister Rajesh Tope said that the lockdown has helped restrict the spread of the disease in the state. He added that the doubling rate has also increased during the lockdown period in Mumbai and the overall state.

The doubling rate — the number of days it takes for Covid-19 cases to double — has improved, he said. The state’s doubling rate is at 11.5 days, while Mumbai’s stands at 14 days.

“The doubling rate has increased to 14 days in Mumbai now. This is a big improvement from the earlier doubling rate of 7 to 8 days. Elsewhere in the state, too, we are trying to contain the spread in hotspots. We are working towards stricter enforcement of lockdown in such containment areas, so that cases reduce,” Tope said.

The state health minister has already said that Maharashtra would see the peak of the Covid-19 outbreak by June-end. He said that they are preparing for a projection of over 50,000 cases in Mumbai in three weeks. “There are various projects. Some mathematical projections haven’t been accurate, but we are preparing for the worst. Currently, Mumbai has about 17,500 cases. It could increase three times by around June 20; so it would go over 50,000. We are preparing accordingly,” he said.

Over 2.45 lakh migrant labourers have been sent back to their home states by 191 Shramik trains, said the state home minister Anil Deshmukh. He added that the first trains carrying migrant workers to Bihar and West Bengal, which had so far disallowed labourers to come back, departed from Maharashtra on Saturday.

“Around 2.45 lakh migrant workers have been sent to their respective home states by running 191 train services till now. We could not send trains to Bihar and West Bengal since these states did not allow it. But [NCP chief] Sharad Pawar and chief minister Thackeray personally spoke to West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar over the phone. Today, the first trains carrying migrant workers to West Bengal and Bihar were sent,” Deshmukh said in a video message.

The trains are being run from parts of Maharashtra to Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh.

Deshmukh also informed that 3,71,310 migrant workers have been kept in 3,884 shelters across the state and the state government has arranged for their food.

Continuing the evacuation of migrants who are desperate to return to their homes, the Maharashtra State Transport Corporation (MSRTC) has, so far, ferried 1.42 lakh migrant workers in 11,380 buses to the state’s borders.

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