Maharashtra, Mumbai Coronavirus July 9 Updates: State reports 6,875 new cases, death toll nears 1,000

More than 300 incidents of attack on police personnel have been reported in Maharashtra during the Covid-induced lockdown and subsequent relaxation of norms, PTI quoted an official as saying. In the latest incident, an assistant police inspector sustained injuries after he was manhandled by some men at Ambi village of Paranda tehsil in Osmanabad district, he said.

At least 86 police personnel were injured while enforcing prohibitory orders and 863 persons have been detained in connection with over 300 attacks reported till date, the official said, according to PTI.

With an addition of 6,875 new covid-19 cases, Maharashtra's overall tally stands at 2,30,599 as on Thursday, the state health department said. A health department statement said 4,067 patientswere also discharged from hospitals, taking the total recoveries to 1,27,259 in the state. There are 93,673 active cases in the state, it said. So far, 12,22,487 people have been tested for COVID-19 in Maharashtra, the statement added.

6875 new #COVID19 positive cases, 219 deaths, 4067 recovered in Maharashtra today. The total number of positive cases in the state rises to 2,30,599 including 1,27,259 recovered, 93,652 active cases and 9,667 deaths: Public Health Department, Maharashtra pic.twitter.com/h84JgvhuP5

— ANI (@ANI) July 9, 2020

Speaking to IAS officers appointed to monitor the functioning of government as well as private hospitals, CM Uddhav Thackeray said that complaints about shortage of hospital beds for coronavirus patients have dwindled but officials should focus on improving ambulance services.

The municipal corporation has acquired 80 per cent beds in 35 private hospitals in Mumbai and additional field hospitals have been set up. Now the focus should be on patient care for whichambulance services need to be regulated and improved, he said. Thackeray assured that people not fear shortage of medicines as the civic body has adequate stock.

The Maharashtra government on Thursday told the Bombay High Court that it was in the process of taking a decision on conducting final year exams for the post-graduate MD and MS courses. The high court was hearing a petition filed by Dr Nishant Gabbur, seeking a direction to the Maharashtra University of Health Sciences (MUHS) to declare the dates and conduct final year exams for post-graduate MD/MS course.

The plea said, the exams were postponed twice due to the virus outbreak.

Assistant government pleader Jyoti Chavan said the process involved is preparation of schedule and taking every safety measure as it concerns resident doctors and examiners who are already in COVID-19 duty.

The number of coronavirus cases rose to 7,504 in Maharashtra's Aurangabad district on Thursday after 166 more people tested positive for the disease, according to PTI. Among the fresh cases, 101 were reported from the city and 65 from rural parts of the district.

The coronavirus figures in the district are as follows: Total cases 7,504, active cases 3,141, new cases 166, death toll 330, recovered 4,033.

The Maharashtra Police requests people to stay indoors during the pandemic. Currently, Maharashtra is the worst-hit in India, contributing to country's maximum caseload with 223,724 infections, including 9,448 deaths.

Just follow mom's advice!
Bring home the essentials, not the virus.#MaskIsEssential#UseAMask #MaskUp #COVID?19 #coronavirus #corona pic.twitter.com/9Ht1LI1avs

— Maharashtra Police (@DGPMaharashtra) July 9, 2020

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday said all cities in the state should set up 'corona vigilance committees',to involve participation of citizens in the fight against COVID-19 and help the local administration in monitoring the ground situation. Addressing commissioners of various municipal bodies in Thane district through video-conferencing, Thackeray said despite repeated directives for setting up jumbo facilities to fight COVID-19 in the district, the local administration did not function as per the expectations.

"The war against COVID-19 cannot be fought by government alone, without the involvement of citizens. During the freedom movement, the determination to achieve independence got a boost due to the involvement of people. Recently, people on their own decided to boycott Chinese goods and sent across a message," he said. "They can keep a watch on other ailments of senior citizens, their oxygen levels, cleanliness in their areas, ailments suffered by people in the neighbourhood, whether mandatory use of mask is being followed," he said.

The Supreme Court Thursday refused to accept Maharashtra government's claim that there was no problem in the state in connection with the migrant workers issue, saying it is its duty to find out the lapses and act on them. "What is happening in Maharashtra? Large number of migrant workers are still in the state," the bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, S K Kaul and M R Shah asked the state government.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the state, said the crux of the affidavit was that the migrants who wanted to leave earlier have now decided to stay back as the state opened up employment opportunities and since May 1, around 3,50,000 workers came back to work in Maharashtra again. Speaking on behalf of the state, he said whoever wanted to shift has been shifted and those who went back may not be getting jobs as per their skills, like a carpenter cannot work as a labourer in an agricultural field.

Migrants at the CSMT in Mumbai waiting to board the special trains.

Around 3,000 antigen testing kits under "Chase the Virus" campaign have been given to Maharashtra's Palghar district for the detection of Covid infectons. An additional 10,000 will be procured to screen suspected patients in the district, PTI quoted collector Dr Kailash Shinde as saying.

Shinde said the administration is doing its best to bring down the mortality rate, which is at 1.3 per cent, while the recovery rate was at 62 per cent. Moreover, an auto RT-PCR machine, with the capacity to test 500 samples a day, has been requisitioned at a lab in Dahanu, he said.

Palghar district has seen 1,542 cases so far, including 19 deaths.

As the number of Covid-19 cases surge outside containment zones, both Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad Police have intensified action against violations of safety norms, movement restrictions and vehicle capacity rules in the last five days.

Pune City and Pimpri-Chinchwad Police have filed nearly 2,400 and 2,000 cases, respectively, in the last five days. These cases have been filed against people for violating containment zone rules, movement restrictions in non-containment areas, night curfew, vehicle capacity rule, and also for not wearing masks, violation of social distancing norms at public places like shops and other establishments.

Currently, both Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad have night curfew between 10 pm and 5 am, in accordance with the state government’s directives. Pune currently has 109 areas demarcated as micro-containment zones, which have far stricter rules than non-containment areas.

With senior citizens being particularly vulnerable to Covid-19, 13.8 per cent of those aged above 60 infected by coronavirus have died in Mumbai, as opposed to the average fatality rate of 5.7 per cent for all age groups. While most doctors, who work as consultants, are practising tele medicine from home, some, despite being senior citizens, are walking into hospitals and clinics every day to treat patients.

The Indian Express spoke to a few of them. Click here to read

Three teenaged friends in Maharashtra's Nagpur district have used their creative skills to raise funds for those at the forefront of the battle against COVID-19 and for mentally challenged children and an orphanage here. Soumya Dalimya (17), a Class 12 student, Presha Bhattad (15), a student of Class 10, and Ditya Thapar, who is in Class 8, utilised the lockdown time to make 44 paintings. They have so far raised Rs 84,000 through the sale of their art works. They intend to donate 50 per cent of the amount to the Prime Minister's CARES Fund and the remaining to an orphanage for girls and a centre for mentally deranged children. -- PTI

On seven out of last eight days, the number of people who were declared to have recovered from the novel Coronavirus disease in Delhi has exceeded the number of new infections. On Wednesday, the difference in these two numbers was almost 2,000. There were 3,982 people who were declared recovered, while 2,033 people were found to have been infected.

After reaching a peak on June 23, when 3,947 new infections were detected in Delhi, there has been a steady decline in the number of new cases every day. In fact, on Monday, only 1,379 new cases were discovered in the capital. On the other hand, the people who had been found infected two to three weeks ago, when Delhi was reporting high numbers, have started to recover.

With nearly 25,000 fresh cases, the Covid-19 tally in India on Thursday increased to 767,296 with as many as 21,129 fatalities, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said.

Covid-19 cases among Maharashtra Police personnel rose by 278 cases between Tuesday morning and Wednesday morning, going from 5,435 to 5,713. Among the 5,713 cases, as on Wednesday morning, 1,113 remained active. As many as 71 police personnel in the state, including five officers and 66 constabulary staff, have till now succumbed to Covid-19.

The major chunk of the total caseload and deaths from the two lakh-strong Maharashtra Police has been reported from Mumbai, its surrounding areas and among personnel of Maharashtra SRPF deployed in high-risk areas, who were later repatriated to their home units. Other than Mumbai and SRPF, a significant number of cases has been found among cops in Malegaon, Thane city, Pune city, Navi Mumbai and Solapur.

A staff member sanitises luggage at a hotel in Mumbai on Wednesday. (Photo by Ganesh Shirsekar)THE FIRST day of hotels reopening in the state saw a lukewarm response, even as owners said they did not expect business to start inching towards normal for at least six months with international travel, domestic tourism, and corporate activities stalled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.On Wednesday, Hotel and Restaurant Association Western India said only 10 per cent hotels opened in the state. The association welcomed the government’s decision but remained unsure of the demand. It said only about 25 per cent to 40 per cent hotels were expected to reopen in the first week, with most carrying out maintenance and other works to resume functioning.

Maharashtra recorded 6,603 new Covid-19 cases, of them 1,374 in Mumbai and 1,049 in Pune city, on Wednesday. The two cities are the only ones recording over 1,000 Covid-19 cases in the state. Maharashtra now has 2.23 lakh cases, of which 91,065 are actively infected. With 198 deaths registered on Wednesday, the toll in the state stands at 9,448.

Mumbai’s case count stands at 87,856. With 62 deaths, total fatalities in the city rose to 5,064. Mumbai is recording doubling in case load in 45 days and has an overall growth rate of 1.54 per cent in cases since July 1. BMC officials said 897 suspected cases of coronavirus were admitted in various centres on Wednesday.

The coronavirus death toll in Mumbai crossed the 5,000-mark on Wednesday with 62 new fatalities, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said. While the death toll reached 5,061, the tally of coronavirus cases in the country's financial capital rose to 87,513 with 1,381 new patients found.

The number of recovered COVID-19 patients rose to 59,238 with 1,101 persons discharged from hospitals during the day, the BMC said. The city has now 23,214 active cases. 897 new suspected patients were admitted since previous evening.

With the detection of 25 fresh cases of coronavirus, the tally in Maharashtra's Amravati district reached 750 on Wednesday, a health official said. At least nine patients were discharged from hospitals, taking the count of recoveries to 519, the official said. The district now has 203 active COVID-19 cases, while the toll stands at 28, he said.

According to a report from the civil surgeon's office, three cases each were detected at Dhamangaon Railway quarantine centre, Bhimnagar and Rampuri camps, while Maulapura and Camp locality recorded two new cases each.

The number of coronavirus positive patients in Maharashtra rose to 2,23,724 with the addition of 6,603 cases on Wednesday, the state health department said. The COVID-19 fatality count grew by 198, which pushed the overall tally of victims in the state to 9,448, it said.

As many as 4,634 patients recovered from the infection and were discharged from hospitals across the state, it added. With this, the number of recovered patients has now gone up to 1,23,192. There are 91,084 active cases in the state at present, the department said. So far, 11,61,311 people have been tested in Maharashtra.

With 278 more police personnel testing positive for novel coronavirus in Maharashtra, the number of the infected cases in the police force has gone up to 5,713, an official said on Wednesday. A total of 71 police personnel have succumbed to the viral infection so far, he said. At 43, the highest death toll of police personnel has been reported from Mumbai. The deceased included two officers, he added.

The number of police personnel who have recovered from the infection so far stands at 4,531.

NCP MP Amol Kolhe tweeted on Wednesday that he had quarantined himself at home after coming into contact with two coronavirus-infected persons. Kolhe, Lok Sabha member from Shirur in Maharashtra who is a doctor himself, said he subsequently underwent COVID-19 test which came out negative, but decided to isolate himself by way of precaution.

No one will be allowed to distribute ration or food packets during the "janata curfew", which has been called to contain the spread of COVID-19, Aurangabad police commissioner Chiranjeev Prasad said on Wednesday. The local administration has called for a "Janata curfew" from July 10 to 18 in Maharashtra's Aurangabad city and some suburbs.

Speaking to PTI, Prasad said the curfew will be implemented in the strictest possible manner and all arterial roads will be monitored closely. Action will be taken against people driving aroundMwithout permission, he said.

Covid-19 tally in Mumbai's slum colony Dharavi has risen to 2,338 with the addition of 3 new cases, reported PTI quoting BMC. On Tuesday, just one COVID-19 patient was found in Dharavi, once a hotspot which has seen a dramatic improvement in the coronavirus situation. With the addition of three new COVID-19 cases, the tally in Dharavi has gone up to 2,338, a senior Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) official said.

The civic body has, however, stopped disclosing the number of deaths, if any, in the slum-dominated area since the past few days.

Cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar on Wednesday inaugurated a Plasma Therapy Unit for treating COVID-19 patients at the Seven Hills Hospital in suburban Andheri and urged those who have recovered from the deadly infection to help save lives by donating blood plasma. The unit is an initiative of initiative of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). It will offer convalescent plasma therapy to COVID-19  patients using donated blood plasma from those who have recovered.

'We are facing an unprecedented challenge to our health in the form of the COVID-19 pandemic. Rising to the occasion, our doctors, nurses, paramedical staff, the police, municipal and government staff are working tirelessly to deliver effective healthcare to all those affected by the virus,' Tendulkar was quoted as saying by PTI.

'Researchers around the globe are working to find an effective vaccine and treatment. In this, plasma therapy has emerged as an option to treat critically ill patients. I congratulate the BMC on starting this service that will save lives,' added the former batsman, who has multiple records to his name. He urged those who have recovered to donate their blood and save critically ill patients.

At a time when the police and medical services are grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic, a woman police officer and her staff helped a 35-year-old destitute woman deliver her baby on the road side in south Mumbai, police said on Wednesday.

As heavy rains lashed the city in the early hours of Sunday, sub-inspector Priya Garud was on check post duty when she got a call about a destitute woman crying out for help near Metro cinema, an official said. Garud, who is attached to the Azad Maidan police station, rushed to the spot with her staff and found that the woman, who is mentally challenged, was experiencing acute labour pains, he said.

When the personnel saw that the woman didn't even have proper clothes, they went to a nearby house to borrow some clothes and bedsheets, the official said. The policewoman then ran to the state-run hospital nearby, where the doctors asked her to get the patient to the hospital, he added. By the time Garud returned to the spot, she found that the woman had already delivered the infant, the official said, adding that the personnel tried their best to keep the woman and the baby safe as they waited for an ambulance. When the ambulance finally arrived after over an hour-long wait, the woman and her baby were shifted to Cama and Albles Hospital and both are doing well, the senior officer said.

A courageous act of two police personnel, who had rushed five COVID-19 patients injured in a road accident near Pune in Maharashtra on Monday to hospitals, has earned them accolades from Home Minister Anil Deshmukh.

At least 12 COVID-19 patients were injured when their ambulance overturned while on its way to a COVID care facility near Bavdhan on Mumbai-Pune highway. 'ASI Abdul Sheikh and Police shipai Akshay Ingwale of @PuneCityPolice rushed five #covid19 patients, who were injured in an accident to the hospital without worrying about their lives. Their resilience and presence of mind is commendable,' Deshmukh tweeted.

ASI Abdul Sheikh and Police shipai Akshay Ingwale of @PuneCityPolice rushed five #covid19 patients, who were injured in an accident to the hospital without worrying about their lives. Their resilience and presence of mind is commendable. pic.twitter.com/I8j1utFiZ4

— ANIL DESHMUKH (@AnilDeshmukhNCP) July 8, 2020

Thane police commissioner Vivek Phansalkar on Wednesday appealed to citizens to help the administration fight the COVID-19 pandemic by staying indoors during the lockdown. As per official data, Maharashtra's Thane district has so far recorded over 45,000 COVID-19 cases, including 1,300
deaths.

In a video address, Phansalkar said the police, Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) and state government were doing their best to contain the spread of the disease. The civic body had declared a lockdown between July 2 and 11 and citizens of Thane city should remain indoors and not step out unless there is an emergency, he said. The top cop also spoke about localities in the city that had recorded high number of cases.

The Aurangabad bench of Bombay High Court slammed the authorities for negligence and said the system can be cleaned after taking criminal action against them for shirking their responsibilities during the Covid-19 pandemic.The bench led by Justice Nalawade observed, "This is really a testing time. Public servants will be tested and it can be ascertained as to whether they are sincere and they have devotion to the duty. If to save their own lives and to save skin they are shirking responsibility, then it can be presumed that there is no use of them in the system, and after taking criminal action against them they can be removed and this way the system can be cleaned. This court is looking at the present situation that way and this Court intends to take such action against all those public servants who are passing the buck and who are shirking the responsibility."

The Shiv Sena on Wednesday asserted there are no differences among the ruling MVA allies in Maharashtra, and said if coalition governments fall over controversies on some transfers and promotions, it would imply that the national politics is on a weak foundation. An editorial in Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana' said politics over issues of a few transfers and promotionsis "low level" and "petty".

It said there is "no truth" in speculations about lack of co-ordination among the ruling coalition partners and that they can't see eye to eye over several important issues. The ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) comprises the Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress, which came together to form government in the state last year after the Uddhav Thackeray-led party fell out with long-term ally BJP over the issue of sharing the chief ministerial post.

The steady increase in Covid-19 cases in both urban and rural areas of Pune district has seen renewed demands for another lockdown from some elected representatives. However, others said the focus should be on augmenting the healthcare infrastructure. In Pimpri-Chinchwad, elected representatives have sought a lockdown for 10 days to break the chain of infection in Dighi, Hinjewadi, Dehugaon and Chakan. Read more here

Cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar on Wednesday inaugurated a Plasma Therapy Unit for treating COVID-19 patients at the Seven Hills Hospital in suburban Andheri and urged those who have recovered from the deadly infection to help save lives by donating blood plasma. The unit is an initiative of initiative of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). It will offer convalescent plasma therapy to COVID-19 patients using donated blood plasma from those who have recovered.

"We are facing an unprecedented challenge to our health in the form of the COVID-19 pandemic. Rising to the occasion, our doctors, nurses, paramedical staff, the police, municipal and government staff are working tirelessly to deliver effective healthcare to all those affected by the virus," said Tendulkar, urging people to come forward and donate

The Covid-19 death toll in Mumbai crossed the 5,000 mark on Tuesday with 64 deaths recorded in the city. As many as 224 deaths were recorded across Maharashtra — highest in a fortnight. The last highest death toll was on June 23 when the state reported 248 deaths.

While the deaths were high on Tuesday, Mumbai recorded only 785 new Covid-19 cases, lowest since June 30 when 893 cases were recorded. The total tally has touched 86,509. Across the state, 5,134 new cases were diagnosed, with the total count now at 2.17 lakh.

While 12 hospitals chosen to conduct clinical trials of Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin prepare to enrol participants this month, samples of the vaccine are still undergoing quality and safety tests at a government facility, The Indian Express has learnt. The tests, which began last Friday, are expected to be completed by the end of next week and cannot be rushed as they are expected to ensure the vaccines are safe to use in humans, said senior officials. Read More

India has reported 482 deaths and 22,752 Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, pushing the total number of casualties to 20,642 and total number of infections to 7,42,417 which includes 2,64,944 active cases, and 4,56,831 people who have been treated and discharged so far, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The number of recovered cases exceeded that of the active cases by 1,91,886 on Tuesday.

After delivering over one lakh face shields to police and medical personnel in Pune and other cities since the Covid-19 pandemic broke out, the city-based Venture Centre has now come up with its own version of N95 face masks.

After successfully testing the masks on users at hospitals, the Centre began manufacturing them on Tuesday. Called MH12, the designing and manufacturing process of the mask was completed within two months. These masks will be donated to government hospitals and police, on priority. V Premnath, director of Venture Centre, said these efforts are directed towards delivering the benefits of science and technology to people.

Former Pune Mayor and Kasba Peth MLA Mukta Tilak has decided to opt for home quarantine after she tested positive for Covid-19. Last week, Tilak’s father Vasant Limaye had succumbed to the infection. He was 85. Tilak and her mother also tested positive for the infection.

Meanwhile, current Mayor Murlidhar Mohol, who tested positive for the infection on Saturday, is undergoing treatment at a private hospital after he reported symptoms of fever. Some of his family members have also tested positive for the infection.

The World Health Organization on Tuesday acknowledged “evidence emerging” of the airborne spread of the novel coronavirus, after a group of scientists urged the global body to update its guidance on how the respiratory disease passes between people. “We have been talking about the possibility of airborne transmission and aerosol transmission as one of the modes of transmission of COVID-19,” Maria Van Kerkhove, technical lead on the COVID-19 pandemic at the WHO, told a news briefing.

The WHO has previously said the virus that causes the COVID-19 respiratory disease spreads primarily through small droplets expelled from the nose and mouth of an infected person that quickly sink to the ground. Read our explainer

With hotels set to reopen from Wednesday, the organised sector is finding ways to balance hospitality and safety of their guests and staff in the times of Covid-19 pandemic. While many have started putting in place elaborate safety measures to handle the flow of customers, hoteliers are sceptical whether they would do much business in the initial days, as people are still tepid about stepping out. Read more, here

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday directed the Centre and state government to respond to a public interest litigation (PIL) that sought directions to allow lawyers to travel by suburban local trains running during the Covid-19 pandemic as they provide essential services.

A Division Bench of Justices A A Sayed and M S Karnik Tuesday heard through video conference the PIL that claimed many lawyers do not own a private vehicle and it becomes difficult for them to commute to the court and so they should be included in the list of persons entitled to travel in special local trains and declare that services rendered by lawyer is essential service.

Currently, only government employees and essential services providers are allowed to use local trains after its services were resumed following suspension during the lockdown to contain the spread of coronavirus.

A simple visit to a toilet is not that easy for Covid-19 patients. In four months, doctors have noted multiple ‘fall episodes’, in some cases leading to fractures, as patients try to walk a few steps to the toilet.

Low oxygen saturation levels, acute weakness, no relatives at side, and hesitance of nursing staff to come to prompt aid in isolation wards have increased incidents of “fall” in hospitals in the last four months. ‘Fall episodes’, when a patient falls off bed or falls while walking to a toilet, are carefully recorded and registered as medico-legal cases. In the public sector with huge patient load, doctors say they inform casualty medical officers but the frequent incidents recently have made it difficult to report each case. “At most we record in the patient's case paper,” a doctor in Bhabha Bandra hospital said. Read more here

The state government will recruit 10,000 additional police personnel in order to relieve the load on a stretched force battling the Covid-19 pandemic.

Home Minister Anil Deshmukh said on Tuesday that in light of the law and order situation created by the pandemic and the lockdown, the state police needs additional personnel. Read more here

The Covid-19 death toll in Mumbai crossed the 5,000 mark on Tuesday with 64 deaths recorded in the city. As many as 224 deaths were recorded across Maharashtra — highest in a fortnight. The last highest death toll was on June 23 when the state reported 248 deaths. Read more here