Coronavirus in Maharashtra: 92 new cases of COVID-19 take state tally to 1,666

As 92 more cases of COVID-19 have emerged in Maharashtra, the number of such patients in the state reached 1,666 on Saturday, the state health department said. Seventy-two of these new cases were detected in Mumbai, it said. Five others tested positive in Malegaon, four in Thane, two each in Panvel and Aurangabad, one each in Kalyan- Dombivali, Vasai-Virar, Pune, Ahmednagar, Nashik city, Nashik rural and Palghar, the department added.

So far, 110 persons have died due to the infection in the state. As many as 188 patients have been discharged from hospitals after recovery, officials said. Till Friday, 33,093 samples have been tested, they said. The police in Maharashtra have registered 34,010 First Information Reports (FIRs) so far for violation of coronavirus lockdown across the state, an official release said on Friday.

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The highest number of FIRs were registered in Pune (4,317), as per the release of the Law and Order Department of state police. In Mumbai, 1,930 offences were registered while 2,299 cases were registered in Nagpur, 2,227 in Nashik city, 2,994 in Solapur city, 2,690 in Pimpri Chinchwad, 3,215 in Ahmednagar. FIRs were also registered against 468 persons for violating quarantine norms.

Prisoner releases in Maharashtra 

he Maharashtra prisons department has released on bail 3478 prisoners till Friday to reduce crowding in jails due to the coronavirus outbreak, officials said. These prisoners are serving jails terms of less than seven years, they said. "While 469 prisoners were released from Arthur Road Jail, 350 were freed from Thane Central, 330 from Taloja Central, 275 from Yerawada, 151 from Amravati, 141 from Nagpur, 118 from Aurangabad Central and 100 from Nashik Central," he said.

On March 23, the Supreme Court in a suo moto (on its own) petition directed for a high-powered committee to be set up to determine which class of prisoners can be released on parole or interim bail to reduce crowding in jails in view of the coronavirus outbreak. It said the parameters would be nature of offence, sentence awarded to the convict and severity of the offence.

Two undertrials lodged at Maharashtra's Aurangabad Central Jail have approached the Bombay High Court against a high-powered committee's decision that prisoners booked under special Acts will not be entitled to temporary bail in view of the coronavirus pandemic.

(With PTI inputs) 

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