Maha logs 18,466 new Covid infections, Mumbai accounts for 10,606

Maharashtra on Tuesday reported 18,466 fresh coronavirus positive cases, around 52 per cent or 6,303 cases more than the previous day's tally, and 20 fatalities, the state health department said.

With these new additions, Maharashtra's overall COVID-19 tally rose to 67,30,494 and the death toll to 1,41,573, it said.

Maharashtra recorded 75 new cases of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus in the last 24 hours, taking the count of such cases to 653 so far.

Of the 75 Omicron cases, 40 cases were reported from Mumbai, nine from Thane city, eight from Pune city, five from Panvel, three each from Kolhapur and Nagpur, two from Pimpri-Chinchwad, and one each from Bhiwandi Nizampur, Ulhasnagar, Satara, Amravati and Navi Mumbai.

On Sunday, Maharashtra had recorded 12,160 COVID-19 cases and 11 deaths.

With 20 fresh deaths, the case fatality rate in Maharashtra now stands at 2.1 per cent, the department said in a bulletin.

A total of 4,558 patients were discharged in the last 24 hours, taking the number of recoveries so far in Maharashtra to 65,18,916, it said.

Maharashtra is now left with 66,308 active cases including 47,476 in Mumbai, the department said.

The case recovery rate in the state now stands at 96.86 per cent.

Mumbai added 10,606 new cases, a steep rise from 7,928 infections recorded the day before, and two more deaths, according to the bulletin.

The Mumbai region, which comprises the metropolis and satellite cities, recorded 15,663 new cases, followed by the Pune region (1,783), Nashik (389), Nagpur (229), Kolhapur (168), Aurangabad (88), Latur (86 ), and the Akola region (60), as per the bulletin.

Across Maharashtra, only Wardha district didn't report any new COVID-19 case, it said.

Of the 20 fresh COVID-19 deaths, the Pune region saw seven fatalities, followed by five in the Mumbai region, four in the Nashik region, two in the Kolhapur region and one each in Kolhapur and Nagpur regions, the bulletin said.

Aurangabad and Akola regions did not report any fresh COVID-19 fatalities, it added.

With 1,39,165 new tests, the number of samples tested so far in Maharashtra rose to 6,95,09,260.

Currently, 3,98,391 people are in home quarantine and 1,110 people are in institutional quarantine in Maharashtra, it added.

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Tuesday said the administration has decided to shut schools for Classes 1 to 8 in the Pune district till January 30 due to the rise in cases.

A day earlier, the Mumbai civic body had decided to close schools for Classes 1 to 9 and 11 till January 31.

As cases spiked in Mumbai, city Mayor Kishori Pednekar on Tuesday said if the daily infections cross the 20,000-mark, a lockdown will be imposed in the city as per the Union government's rules.

Coronavirus figures of Maharashtra are as follows: Positive cases 67,30,494; fresh cases 18,466; death toll 1,41,573; recoveries 65,18,916 active cases 66,308, total tests 6,95,09,260.