The coronavirus situation worsened in Maharashtra on Thursday, as the pandemic toll rose from 16 to 19 and 81 more persons tested positive for Covid-19 taking the total infected number of infected persons in the state to 416.
On a day when the Maharashtra Government declared 30 government hospitals in the state as designated hospitals for coronavirus treatment, the pandemic claimed three more lives taking the toll to 19 in the State.
The details of the latest Coronavirus deaths were awaited till late in the evening.
Of the 81 positive cases, Mumbai accounted for a maximum of 57 cases, while there were nine cases in Ahmednagar, six cases in Pune, three cases in Pimpri-Chinchwad, five cases in Thane and one case in Thane.
With the latest positive cases, the total number of infected cases in Maharashtra shot up from 335 on Wednesday to 416 on Thursday. According to a medical bulletin issued by the State Public Health department, 42 persons have fully recovered from Covid-19 and have been discharged from various hospitals so far.
What has put the state health authorities is the fact that two persons from Mumbai’s Dharavi, which is Asia’s largest slum have tested positive for the Covid-19.
Of the two infected cases reported from Dharavi, one is a 56-year-old man – who with no history of international travel -- tested positive for Covid-19 on Wednesday, while the second one is a 52-year-old sanitation department worker of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).
Unconfirmed reports had said on Wednesday night that 56-year-old man, who is resident of Dharavi’s Shahunagar area succumbed to the pandemic. However, there was no official confirmation from the BMC about this death.
Sources said that the BMC sanitation department worker, who tested positive for Covid-19, is a resident of Worli area in south-central Mumbai. He had been posted on sanitation duty at Dharavi. After he was admitted to hospital where tested positive for Coronavirus, seven of his family members have been home quarantined.
Following reports of positive cases from Dharavi, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) sealed off the entire building No. 9 in Punjabi Camp, Sion-Koliwada area On Thursday.
Meanwhile, State Health Minister Rajesh Tope said that as many as 1,400 persons had attended the Tablighi Jamaat event in Delhi's Nizammudin, which has now become hotbed for Covid-19. “We have identified them. We are in the process of tracking and quarantining them,” he said.
“The Covid-19 test results of 46 persons who returned from the event have proved negative, while the reports of the remaining three are awaited,” the minister said.
Releasing the list of 30 hospitals across the state which have been designated as the Coronavirus treatment hospitals, Tope said: “For designating government as Coronavirus hospitals, we have come out with a notification. Together, these designated hospitals have a total bed capacity of 2305.
According to Tope, more than 200, including several foreigners, are under institutional quarantine in various parts of the state. “We are following the complete protocols,” he said.
In a major initiative, the BMC came out with a list of all its containment areas in the metropolis. The areas include several residential complexes which have now been sealed with entry-exit barred for all till the isolation periods are over. On its part, the BMC is disinfecting various localities and housing complexes in various part of the metropolis.
The Maharashtra government has set up more than 3,500 temporary camps for housing migrant labourers “ In these camps, we will be giving the migrant labourers, accommodation and other basic needs till the lockdown period is over,” a senior official said.
Meanwhile, the state police have detained around 325 migrants who attempted to sneak out of Maharashtra in 4 container trucks to Rajasthan.