Maha Covid-19 deaths reach 64, positive cases breach 1000-mark

Covid-19 continued to march upwards in Maharashtra on Tuesday claiming 12 more lives to total 64 deaths and 150 new cases, taking the number of positive cases to 1,018, officials said.

Health Minister Rajesh Tope said that the VVIP police security detail, posted at Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s residence would be tested for Covid-19.

The precautionary measure was announced a day after a tea-seller outside the Thackeray home, ‘Matoshree’ tested positive, sending shockwaves among the city and state health authorities.

On Tuesday (Today, April 7), 6 Covid-19 patients died in Mumbai, three succumbed in Pune and one each in Thane, Nagpur and Satara.

They include 2 women and 10 men, who were also suffering from various other serious ailments.

Among the new Covid-19 cases are: Mumbai 116, Pune 18, Nagpur, Aurangabad and Ahmednagar 3 each, Thane and Buldhana 2 each, and one each in Satara, Sangli, and Ratnagiri.

The fresh wave of deaths and new cases came a day after ‘Matoshree’ – the residence of Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, and two major private hospitals, one in Mumbai and one in Pune being sealed after around 130 staffers were found Covid-19 positive.

The tea-seller, who was in business till March 22, has been admitted to the HinduHridaySamrat Balasaheb Thackeray Medical College & R.N. Cooper Hospital in Juhu, and efforts are on to trace his contacts even as Kala Nagar – the area around ‘Matoshri’ – has been sealed since Monday.

In another concern, officials said that around 4 dozen persons who attended the Tablighi Jamaat event in Delhi are untraceable as their phones are switched off.

The Mumbai Police yesterday have issued an appeal to all such persons who went for the Delhi Jamaat programme to voluntarily come forward with their health status.

Of the total 64 casualties in the state, Mumbai alone has notched 40 deaths,

Till date, 34,695 people are in home quarantine and 4008 in institutional quarantine, while 79 who are fully cured have been discharged.

In a major move, the health authorities have sealed off at least two major residential localities in ‘mass quarantine’ in view of the high incidence of Covid-19 positive cases from those areas.

They include the localities between Kondwa, Maharshinagar to RTO in Junya Peth, which have been placed under total curfew since midnight (of April 6-7), though essential supplies will be made available there.

In a significant move, the state government has decided to extend the economical ‘Shiv Bhojan Thali’ scheme right down to taluka levels for the next three months.

The meals will be available for Rs.5 at extended service hours from 11 am-3 pm, which will prove beneficial to thousands of stranded migrants all over the state, said Thackeray.

The state health authorities continue to comb for the Tablighi Jamaat attendees in all districts and civic bodies in the state where so far 23 such positive cases have been found.

They are 8 from Latur, 6 from Buldhana and four from Pune, two from Ahmednagar and one each in Hingoli, Jalgaon and Washim, who had attended the Delhi event in March.-IANS News