Maharashtra Covid-19 lockdown news: State reports 51,751 new Covid cases, 258 deaths

Amid talks of a complete lockdown in Maharashtra to arrest the Covid-19 surge, the passenger rush on outstation trains in Mumbai has increased since the last weekend, railway sources said on Monday. The Railway administration, however, attributed the passenger rush to the summer season which sees a large number of people travelling to their native places.

Even as the second wave of coronavirus is raging, the BMC’s action against the ‘mask-less’ is losing steam. However officials said that the number of people on the street had also reduced due to the weekend lockdown and so there were fewer number of people who were not wearing masks on the streets.

Covid-19 has cast its shadow on Class 10, 12 board exams. In view of a steep rise in Covid-19 cases in the state, the Maharashtra government on Monday postponed the state board exams of Classes 10 and 12, which were scheduled to be held later this month.

The Nagpur district once again maintained its 4th spot among the state’s 35 districts in the Covid vaccination drive in the week gone by. On Sunday, the state crossed one crore inoculations and the 11 districts of Vidarbha have contributed 20% or 20.97 lakh jabs in the overall achievement. In terms of weekly achievement, Nagpur district was ahead of Mumbai which saw an increase of 18.40%. Pune registered 29% increase in vaccination, followed by Thane at 26%. The three bigger districts — Mumbai, Pune and Thane (in this order) — are ahead of Nagpur in cumulative inoculations till date.

Sixty two new Covid-19 cases have been reported from a village here in Maharashtra after the annual 'Bagad Yatra' festival held earlier this month, officials said on Monday. Hundreds of people gathered at Bavdhan village in Wai tehsil of Satara district on April 2 during the Bagad (chariot of God) festival, celebrated to seek blessings of a local deity, in violation of the Covid-19 guidelines. Later, the district administration had registered a case against more than 100 people, the officials said. "From February 1 till date, Bavdhan has reported a total of 109 Covid-19 cases. Out of these, 47 patients have recovered. Currently, there are 62 active cases, all reported after the Bagad Yatra," a district health official said. "So, we can say the caseload increased after the festival," he added. The neighbouring Vaghjaiwadi village, whose residents also took part in the festival, currently has 15 active Covid-19 cases, all reported after the event, he said. On April 9, Bavdhan village reported 17 Covid-19 cases, its highest number so far, the official said, adding that the village reported 12 new cases on April 10.

Maharashtra on Sunday crossed the one crore-mark in Covid-19 vaccination, touching 1,00,38,421 doses, the highest by any state. Rajasthan is a close second with nearly 96 lakh doses. The state’s target population is an estimated three crore, which means 5 crore doses are yet to be given (two per person).