The curbs will be in place till 7 am on June 1. The state government has also made a negative RT-PCR report compulsory for people entering the state, Chief Secretary Sitaram Kunte said in an order issued on Thursday, May 13. The local disaster management authority has been directed to ensure that COVID appropriate behaviour is followed in rural markets.
“Local DMA should keep special vigil over rural markets and APMCs and ensure Covid Appropriate Behaviour and in if finds any such place as difficult to manage and discipline to ensure non-spread of Covid epidemic, local DMA may decide on a case by case basis to shut these or may impose further restrictions,” read the order.
“Personnel engaged in Airport and Port services and needed for movement of cargo related to medicines or equipments needed for Covid management will be allowed to travel in local, mono and metro services,” it added.
Maharashtra reported 46,781 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, an uptick from 40,956 a day ago, and 816 deaths, the health department said.
The caseload increased to 52,26,710, while the death toll reached 78,007, it said. On Tuesday Maharashtra had reported 40,956 COVID-19 cases, 793 deaths, and 71,966 recoveries. Of 816 fatalities, 387 had occurred in the past 48 hours, 193 last week, and the rest even before that but were added to the tally on Wednesday.
As many as 58,805 patients were discharged from hospitals taking the total of recoveries to 46,00,196. Maharashtra now has 5,46,129 active cases. The state’s COVID-19 recovery rate increased to 88.01 per cent from Tuesday’s 87.67 per cent, while the fatality rate stood at 1.49 per cent, the department said. The positivity rate is still 17.36 per cent, it added.
Mumbai city saw 2,104 new cases, an increase from 1,717 a day ago, taking its tally to 6,81,233. The state capital’s fatality count rose to 13,972 with 66 new deaths. The Nashik division reported 6,494 new cases and 137 deaths. The majority of infections were reported from Nashik city (1,225) and Ahmednagar district (2,381).
Out of 137 fatalities in the Nashik division, 41 and 34 people died in Nashik city and rural parts of the Nashik district, respectively, while 22 patients died in the Ahmednagar district.
The Pune division reported a surge in cases with the Pune rural area accounting for 4,363 cases out of 12,903. Other districts and main cities in the division also reported cases in four digits – 2,021 in Pune city, 3,152 in neighbouring Pimpri-Chinchwad, 1,276 in Solapur rural, and 1,958 in Satara district.
Out of 125 deaths in the division, 40 were reported from Pune city, 33 in Pune rural, 31 in Solapur rural, and 16 in Satara, the department said.
