Maharashtra Coronavirus Live Updates: As cases rise, minister says schools won’t open before Diwali

Maharashtra, Mumbai, Pune Coronavirus News Live Updates: In Pimpri Chinchwad, a 21-year-old student died at the jumbo Covid facility at Nehrunagar two hours after she was discharged from a private hospital due to shortage of ICU beds.

Maharashtra Coronavirus News Live Updates: With nearly 11,500 cases in a single day, Maharashtra’s coronavirus tally on Saturday increased to 1,517,434, a health official said. At least 308 deaths were also reported during the day, which took the death toll to 40,040, the official added. As many as 26,440 patients were discharged after treatment, taking the tally of recovered people to 12,55,779.

In Pimpri Chinchwad, a 21-year-old student died at the jumbo Covid facility at Nehrunagar two hours after she was discharged from a private hospital due to shortage of ICU beds. “On Saturday morning, doctors at the hospital said they had no ICU bed available and therefore she should be shifted to another hospital,” said Anita Adhikari, a relative of the patient and president of Nari Shakti Sanstha, Pimpri-Chinchwad.

Meanwhile, the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking has presented a deficit budget of Rs 1,887 crore for financial year 2021-22. Officials attributed the huge gap between BEST’s earning and expenditure to the social distancing norms it has to follow on buses. BEST is allowing only one passenger per seat and limited number of standing passengers. BEST committee member Ravi Raja said, “The losses it has incurred in the last six months will have a huge bearing on the estimated budget for 2021-22. Once the actual budget for 2020-21 is out on March 21, the exact losses of the ongoing year will be clear and how badly it has hit BEST’s account books for the coming year.”

Maharashtra Coronavirus Live Updates: Nearly 11,500 infections in single day, overall caseload exceeds 1.5 million; more than 40,000 deaths so far. Get latest updates from Mumbai, Pune, Thane here.

Schools in the state will not reopen before Diwali, state School Education Minister Varsha Gaikwad said on Sunday. “While we are exploring various options, it is clear that schools will not open before Diwali,” she was quoted as saying by news agency PTI. The Centre on March 16 had announced the closure of all educational institutions, including schools, colleges and universities, to prevent the spread of the virus. It has now allowed graded reopening of schools from October 15.

The Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking has presented a deficit budget of Rs 1,887 crore for financial year 2021-22. Presenting the estimated budget before BEST’s standing committee, General Manager Surendra Kumar Bagde said the undertaking is projected to spend Rs 6,827.83 crore on its bus operations and electricity supply but stands to generate revenue of only Rs 4,939 crore. BEST’s earning from its transportation wing is estimated to dip to Rs 1,407 crore against expenditure of Rs 3,039.24 crore in operating a total of 3,675 buses, of which BEST owns 2,875 buses. Another 800 have been acquired on wet-lease. “For fiscal 2021-22, our target is to increase our ridership to over 30 lakh daily for which we will need more buses. We are targeting to double our fleet to about 6,337 buses by March 2022,” said Bagde. Click here to read more

Although Central Railway has started two special trains between Mumbai and Pune – with the timings same as that of the popular Deccan Queen and Indrayani Express – commuters who travel between the cities daily for work are not too enthusiastic about the restoration of service. They point out that the special trains do not accept seasons passes, a facility used by most regular travellers. This became apparent on Saturday as both trains, which can carry over 1,000 passengers each, had less than 200 during their trip from Pune to Mumbai. While the Railway administration said that the low occupancy was due to the weekend, commuters and passenger activists feel that the invalidation of seasons’ passes for these services is bound to turn passengers away. The requirement of booking a train berth twice a day is proving to be a tough task for many passengers. Click here to read more

Barely two hours after a 21-year-old student was discharged from a private hospital in Pimpri-Chinchwad, she died at the jumbo Covid facility in Nehrunagar on Saturday. The patient, who was in critical condition, was discharged from the private hospital as it had no vacant ICU bed. The patient, a resident of Gharkul, was admitted to Dr D Y Patil Hospital in Pimpri about five days ago. Doctors at the hospital said the student was detected Covid positive a month ago but had subsequently recovered. However, she started feeling uneasy five days ago, and her relatives admitted her to the Dr D Y Patil Hospital. “On Saturday morning, doctors at the hospital said they had no ICU bed available and therefore she should be shifted to another hospital,” said Anita Adhikari, a relative of the patient and president of Nari Shakti Sanstha, Pimpri-Chinchwad. Click here to read more.

With nearly 11,500 cases in a single day, Maharashtra’s coronavirus tally on Saturday increased to 1,517,434, a health official said. At least 308 deaths were also reported during the day, which took the death toll to 40,040, the official added. As many as 26,440 patients were discharged after treatment, taking the tally of recovered people to 12,55,779. Follow this blog for all the latest updates.

At least 308 deaths were also reported during the day, which took the death toll to 40,040, an official said.

Mumbai city reported 2,203 new cases, which pushed its overall case count to 2,27,276, while its death toll rose to 9,391 with 48 new fatalities.

Pune city added 724 new cases, raising its tally to 1,64,341, while 16 deaths took the toll to 3,718.

The state has so far conducted 75,69,447 tests.

The Mumbai division, which consists of Mumbai city and satellite towns, reported 4,203 new cases, raising its total count to 5,25,273. A total of 16,837 people have died so far in the region, the official said.

The number of cases in the Pune division stood at 3,95,854 and death toll at 8,722, the official said.

Nashik division’s cumulative case tally stood at 2,04,585 and death toll at 3,982, he said.

Kolhapur division has reported 1,02,015 cases and 3,192 deaths till now, while Aurangabad division’s case tally stood at 56,467 and death count at 1,455.

Latur division has reported 62,465 cases until now and 1,764 fatalities.

Akola division has reported 46,652 cases while 1,068 people have succumbed to the infection until now.

[From PTI]

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