Maharashtra registers significant drop in new COVID-19 cases; 257 deaths reported

On Monday, September 14, Maharashtra recorded 17,066 new novel coronavirus cases, propelling the state's COVID-19 tally to 10,77,374. At present, there are 2,91,256 active cases in the state. With 15,789 COVID-19 patients discharged in the day, the number of recovered soared to 7,55,850.

257 deaths- 36 from Kolhapur, 31 each from Mumbai and Sangli, 22 each from Pune and Mira Bhayandar, 15 from Solapur, 12 from Jalgaon, 11 from Ahmednagar, 8 each from Amravati and Latur, 7 from Thane, 6 from Yavatmal, 5 from Aurangabad, 4 each from Satara and Raigad, three each from Kalyan-Dombivali, Pimpri Chinchwad, Beed, Osmanabad and Nanded, two each from Nagpur, Parbhani, Nashik and Panvel and one each from Navi Mumbai, Ulhasnagar, Palghar, Vasai-Virar, Malegaon, Dhule, Nandurbar, Ratnagiri, Hingoli and Wardha were reported on Monday.  

Until now, a total of 29,894 persons have died owing to COVID-19. So far, 53,21,116 samples have been tested for the novel coronavirus in labs operational across the state. While 17,12,160 persons are under home quarantine, 37,198 others have been admitted to institutional quarantine centres. The COVID-19 positivity rate, recovery rate, and fatality rate in Maharashtra stands at 20.2%, 70.16%, and 2.77% respectively.

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COVID-19 crisis in India

Currently, there are 48,46,427 confirmed novel coronavirus cases in India out of which 37,80,107 patients have been discharged while 79,722 fatalities have been recorded. At present, there are 9,86,598 active cases. With 77,512 persons recovering from COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, the country's recovery rate soared to 78%. The number of recovered persons outnumber active cases by 27,93,509.

Step to ease oxygen supply availability

Earlier in the day, the Maharashtra government declared that the vehicles carrying oxygen for medical purposes shall be treated on par with an ambulance carrying only oxygen. Such vehicles will be treated as vehicles on emergency and disaster management duties for a period of one year. This development comes amid reports of oxygen shortage in some regions of the state grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the Uddhav Thackeray-led government, this measure would help ease the oxygen supply availability in hospitals for the timely treatment of COVID-19 patients. 

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