Even as Maharashtra's COVID-19 tally soars to 15,525; 354 persons discharged in a day

The rise of COVID-19 cases in Maharashtra persisted on Tuesday after 841 more persons tested positive for the novel coronavirus. Moreover, 143 additional cases have been added to the tally because of the data cleaning process as mandated by the Central government. This has propelled the state's COVID-19 tally to 15,525. Maharashtra recorded the highest discharge number in a single day with 354 individuals recovering from the novel coronavirus. So far, 2817 persons have been discharged.

Meanwhile, 34 new COVID-19 deaths- 26 from Mumbai, 6 from Pune, one from Aurangabad, and Kolhapur were reported on Tuesday taking the state's death toll to 617. At least 28 of the deceased patients had high-risk co-morbidities such as diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, etc. A total of 1,82,884 laboratory samples have been tested for the novel coronavirus. Currently, there are 943 containment zones in the state. While 1,99,182 persons are in-home quarantine, 12,456 others have been sent to institutional quarantine centres. 

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635 new cases in Mumbai

Earlier in the day, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation stated that 635 more novel coronavirus cases were detected in Mumbai. Thus, the city's COVID-19 tally surged to 9758. Furthermore, 220 patients were discharged in the day. On the other hand, 26 deaths were reported resulting in Mumbai's death toll soaring to 387. All private hospitals, clinics, nursing homes have been directed by the BMC to resume functioning.

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Maharashtra government issues clarification

The Maharashtra government issued a clarification pertaining to the new lockdown guidelines. Contending that it was very essential to ensure the smooth availability of supplies, Chief Secretary Ajoy Mehta noted that restricting the timings and days of markets and shops was proving to be "counter-productive". He observed that this was leading to more crowding owing to uncertainty. Thus, Mehta ruled that all operational markets and shops as per the guidelines shall be allowed to remain open without any restrictions such as timing and days. However, the Municipal Commissioners of Mumbai Metropolitan Region, Pune Metropolitan Region, Nagpur, Aurangabad, Nashik, and the Collectors of other districts shall have the power to restrict the functioning of markets and shops. 

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