Of 19 districts in India with the highest number of coronavirus cases in the last ten days, 15 are from Maharashtra, the Union Health Ministry said today as the state battles a worrying rise in Covid cases. The government today told the Uddhav Thackeray-led government that the state is "in the beginning of a second wave of Covid".
Pune, Nagpur and Mumbai have reported nearly 1,000 new cases every day for the last ten days, according to government data. While Pune reported 26,218 cases in the last ten days and Mumbai saw 11,859 cases in the same period, Nagpur, which is under lockdown for a week since Monday, has seen 20,104 cases in the last ten days.
In a letter to the state government, the centre flagged the lack of Covid-appropriate behavior and "tracking and testing of cases".
"Maharashtra is in the beginning of a second wave of COVID-19 pandemic. There very limited active effort to track, test, isolate cases and quarantine contacts. There is no adherence to COVID appropriate behaviour among people both in rural and urban areas," Mr Bhushan says in sharp observations.
Some districts are enforcing or considering night curfews, partial lockdowns and weekend lockdowns (Aurangabad, Nashik and Jalgaon), but these measures "may have only very limited impact on containing/suppressing the transmission", the letter told the state administration.
In the list of the districts contributing the highest numbers to the country's caseload, only three are from other states. These are Bengaluru Urban in Karnataka, Indore in Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu capital Chennai.
Maharashtra continues to be the worst-affected state with the highest number of cases. The state is followed by the four southern states of Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
The Maharashtra government on Monday issued new guidelines capping cinemas (single screen/multiplex) and hotels at 50 per cent capacity, banned social/political/religious gatherings, capped 50 people allowed for weddings and 20 for funerals and capped all offices except health and essential at 50 per cent capacity, advising work from home.
India recorded 24,492 fresh Covid cases in the last 24 hours - 6.8% lower than Monday - taking the total case load to 1,14,09,831.
These are the 19 districts with the highest number of COVID-19 cases in last 10 days:
- Pune- 26,218
- Nagpur- 20,104
- Mumbai- 11,859
- Thane - 10,914
- Nashik - 9,024
- Aurangabad - 6,652
- Jalgaon- 6,598
- Indore- 5,238
- Bengaluru Urban - 5,047
- Amravati - 4,250
- Ahmednagar - 3,962
- Chennai- 3,811
- Mumbai suburban- 3,355
- Yavatmal- 3,326
- Akola- 3,299
- Buldhana- 3,185
- Nanded- 3,146
- Wardha- 2,431
- Jalandhar - 2,424
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