Maharashtra Sees Slight Dip In Covid Cases With 27,918 Infections Today

Maharashtra, which has been witnessing a huge rise in new Coronavirus cases, recorded a slight dip on Tuesday with 27,918 infections and 139 deaths in a span of 24 hours, according to the state health department. With 139 deahts due to the COVID-19 infection, the count in the state mounted to 54,422, it said.

With 27, 73, 436 total infections, the state has logged the highest number of cases in the country since the start of the pandemic. Earlier this month, the centre, in a letter, had said Maharashtra "in the beginning of a second wave of Covid".

The dip in the could be attributed to fewer number of tests (1,29,876) being conducted on Tuesday against 1,36,848 samples tested the day earlier.

Maharashtra had reported 31,643 new COVID-19 cases, 20,854 recoveries and 102 deaths on Monday.

Mumbai has reported 4760 new COVID-19 cases on Monday and 10 deaths, marginally lower than the numbers on Monday.

Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had on Sunday asked officials to prepare a plan for implementation of a lockdown in view of the rise in fresh COVID-19 cases. Some state ministers and the BJP, however, have said other options should be considered.

NCP leader and Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope said imposing a lockdown is the last option for the state government.

"Nobody wants a lockdown, not even chief minister Uddhav Thackeray. However, it is the last option before us. There is nothing wrong in considering the lockdown but it would create a lot of problems," Tope told reporters.

Eight of the top 10 COVID-19 high-burden districts of the country are from Maharashtra, the Centre informed earlier today.

The 10 districts with maximum active COVID-19 cases are Pune (59,475), Mumbai (46,248), Nagpur (45,322), Thane (35,264), Nashik (26,553), Aurangabad (21,282), Bengaluru Urban (16,259), Nanded (15,171), Delhi (8,032), Ahmednagar (7,952), the Health Ministry said.