The Covid-19 graph appeared to be gradually peaking in Maharashtra on Wednesday, as the State recorded an all-time high of new 10,576 infected cases, while 280 more people succumbed to pandemic.
After recording the then highest highest-ever 9,518 infected cases on July 19, Maharashtra notched a new daily high of 10,576 cases — much to the discomfort of the State health authorities.
Interestingly, after the infections crossed 8,000 mark on five occasions in a week (July 16-8,641, July 17-8,308, July 18-8,348, July 20-8,240 July 21-8,369) and even breached 9,000 mark once on July 19, the infections touched five-digit mark of 10576 on Wednesday.
With the fresh infections and fatalities, the total number of infections mounted to 3,37,607, while the total number of deaths rose to 12,556.
Of the total 280 deaths reported on Wednesday, Mumbai recorded 58 deaths, taking the total number of deaths in the metropolis from 5,817 to 5,875 , while the number of corona cases rose by 1,310 to touch 1,04,678.
Apart from 58 deaths reported in Mumbai, there were 57 deaths in Pune, 50 deaths in Thane, 27 in Aurangabad, 16 in Kolhapur, 12 in Solapur, 9 in Jalgaon, 7 in Nashik, 6 in Ahmednagar, 5 in Palghar, 4 each in Raigad and Sangli, 3 each in Ratnagiri, Latur, Nanded, Nagpur and Akola, 2 each in Satara and Parbhani and one death each in Nandurbar, Jalna, Hingoli, Osmanabad and Buldhana. In addition, one more person from another State died in Maharashtra.
With 79,911 infected cases and 2,146 deaths, Thane continued to be the second worst hit district in Maharashtra.
Pune, which has emerged as the third worst affected district in terms of spread of the pandemic, has recorded 63,351 infections and 1,514 deaths till now.
In a related development, the total number of patients discharged from various hospitals after full recovery since the second week of March this year touched 1,87,769. The recovery rate in the state stood at 55.62 per cent. The mortality rate in the State is 3.72 per cent. The State health authorities pegged the number of “active cases” in the State at 1,36,980.
Out of 16,87,213 samples sent to laboratories, 3,37,807 have tested positive (20 cent) for Covid-19 until Wednesday.
Currently, 8,58,121 people are in home quarantine while 44,975 people are in institutional quarantine.
Meanwhile, in yet another sting operation, social activist Binu Varghese helped the Crime Branch sleuths of the Thane trap a 5-member gang indulging in blackmarketing of Remdesivir injections for Rs 25,000 per vial. The investigators also recovered other expensive cancer injections and medicines.