COVID-19 crisis: Maharashtra records highest 1-day surge in cases; fatality rate at 2.22%

Maharashtra recorded its highest one-day spike on Thursday, March 18, with 25,833 more persons testing positive for the novel coronavirus. This has propelled the state's COVID-19 tally to 23,96,340. At present, there are 1,66,353 active cases in the state. With 12,764 COVID-19 patients discharged in the day, the number of recovered soared to 21,75,565. With Mumbai recording 2877 cases in the day, it remains a major novel coronavirus hotspot in the state. 

58 deaths — 8 each from Mumbai and Nagpur, 6 from Jalgaon, 5 from Yavatmal, 4 each from Satara and Wardha, three each from Amravati, Pune and Panvel, two each from Ahmednagar, Nanded and Washim and one each from Chandrapur, Beed, Solapur, Vasai Virar, Mira Bhayandar and Navi Mumbai were reported on Thursday. Out of the total deaths reported in the day, 38 occurred in the last 48 hours, 15 in the last week and the rest from the period before. Until now, a total of 53,138 persons in the state have died owing to COVID-19. 

So far, 1,79,56,830 samples have been tested for the novel coronavirus in labs operational across the state. While 8,13,211 persons are under home quarantine, 7079 others have been admitted to institutional quarantine centres. The COVID-19 positivity rate, recovery rate and fatality rate in Maharashtra stand at 13.35 per cent, 90.79 per cent and 2.22 per cent respectively.

COVID-19 crisis in Maharashtra

In a virtual meeting held earlier in the day, Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray asked the divisional commissioners to ensure that restrictions announced to curb the spread of COVID-19 are implemented strictly. Observing that the vaccination drive had also gained momentum in the state, he revealed that the state's target is to administer three lakh doses of the COVID-19 vaccine per day. Moreover, he divulged that the Centre has allowed 134 private hospitals in the state for the vaccination drive. On January 16, Uddhav Thackeray launched the COVID-19 vaccination drive in Maharashtra and inaugurated the vaccination centre at BKC. While a total of 34,08,977 persons have been inoculated in Maharashtra so far, 5,24,988 of them have received the second dose of the vaccine too.