Mumbai’s guardian minister Aslam Shaikh tests positive

Shaikh, who is also the state’s minister for Textiles, Ports and Fisheries, has been active on ground.

Shaikh has isolated himself inside his home for now. “I’ll continue to work from home to serve people of my state,” he tweeted.

As a precautionary measure, the state cabinet has been avoiding large assemblies with meetings being held through videoconferencing. However, so far, four ministers and some IAS officers have tested positive.

On Monday, senior Congress legislator Amar Rajurkar, who is a close aide of Ashok Chavan, also tested positive for coronavirus. He has been admitted to a private hospital in Nanded, where his condition is stable. Rajurkar’s son has also tested positive. He was present for an official meeting chaired by Chavan at the Nanded district collector’s office on July 18. After his test came positive, some senior district officials, including Collector Dr Vipin Itankar, have decided to stay indoors for the next few days. Chavan too stayed put in Nanded on Monday.

176 deaths, over 8,000 fresh cases in state

Maharashtra on Monday recorded 8,240 new Covid-19 cases, taking its total patient count to 3,18,695. The state also reported 176 deaths, taking the toll to 12,030.

Mumbai, meanwhile, recorded 1,035 new cases, taking its total to 1,02,423. With 41 deaths, the toll in the city rose to 5,755.

A total of 5,460 patients were discharged on Monday, taking the count of discharged people to 1,75,029. The recovery rate in the state is 54.92 per cent.

The state now has 1,31,334 active cases, including 24,728 in Mumbai, 38,003 in Thane and 35,312 in Pune.

Constable posted in security of CM’s son tests positive

Mumbai: A police constable posted in the security detail of Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s youngest son Tejas has tested positive for coronavirus, following which other security guards have been asked to quarantine for the next 14 days. Tejas has a Y Plus security.

According to police officials, one of the constables showed symptoms for the virus, after which he underwent the Covid-19 test late last week. “After his reports revealed that he is positive, other security guards were asked to quarantine,” said a senior IPS officer.