Coronavirus live news updates: At 36,902 cases, Maharashtra sees highest one-day spike; night curfew from March 28

Attributing the sudden spurt in Covid-19 cases in Bengaluru to people with travel history, Karnataka’s health minister K Sudhakar on Thursday said a RT-PCR negative report will be mandatory for those coming into the capital city from all states by any mode of transport. The travel restrictions will be applicable from April 1 and a formal order is awaited. Sudhakar, who reviewed Bengaluru’s Covid situation along with officials of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), said: “There is a daily spike in Covid-19 infections and we found that nearly 60% of those who turned positive in recent days came from other states. Currently, it is mandatory for people travelling from Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab and Chandigarh to carry RT-PCR negative reports before coming to Bengaluru. It’ll now be applicable to all states.”

Covid-19 vaccinations in the city dived on Wednesday, a day after the state saw a large drop in numbers. Across the state, vaccination numbers dropped by 32% on Tuesday compared to the previous day, while in the city the turnout dipped by 6% on Wednesday. The state saw 1,89,001 vaccinations on Tuesday after constantly registering a turnout of over two lakh every day for 11 days. On Monday, the state had touched a record high of 2,76,354 vaccinations. The state had set a target of three lakh vaccinations per day to cover the pool of nearly two crore people from the prioritised groups in the next few months. The state has finished administering 47.8 lakh doses of vaccine since January.

The Covid-19 upsurge continued to breach previous records as both Maharashtra and Mumbai added highest-ever single-day tallies on Thursday. Maharashtra recorded 35,952 cases—including 5,505 from Mumbai. The entire Mumbai Metropolitan Region had 10,062 cases. In an indication that numbers will continue to swell, BMC chief I S Chahal said the administration was bracing for Mumbai to touch 10,000 cases. Even as active cases in the state jumped to 2.6 lakh, the cold comfort of a relatively low death count in the second wave was shattered with Maharashtra again recording more than a 100 deaths (111), including 13 in Mumbai. The state had reported 132 fatalities on March 23.

The highest prevalence was in the South-East district, which stood at 62.2% and the least out of the 11 districts in Delhi was found in the North district, which stood at 49%.