Maharashtra logs 3,608 new cases of COVID-19 with 48 deaths; active tally drops below 40,000

Mumbai: Maharashtra on Wednesday reported 3,608 new COVID-19 cases, up 477 from a day ago,  and 48 fresh deaths, taking the infection tally to 65,31,237 and the toll to 1,38,664, a health department official said. The official said with 4,285 patients discharged from hospitals in the last 24 hours, the number of recovered cases rose to 63,49,029. Maharashtra now has 39,984 active cases. On Tuesday, the state had reported 3,131 COVID-19 cases and 70 fatalities. The state has 2,64,416 people in home quarantine and another 1,678 in institutional quarantine, according to the official. He said Maharashtra’s COVID-19 recovery rate stands at 97.21 per cent, while the fatality rate is 2.12 per cent. The cumulative number of coronavirus tests conducted in the state climbed to 5,74,76,142 after 1,68,917 samples were examined in the last 24 hours, the official said. As many as six districts - Dhule, Nandurbar, Nanded, Akola, Bhandara and Gondia - did not report any fresh COVID-19 cases (in rural areas). Similarly, Jalgaon, Parbhani, Nanded and Amravati municipal corporations (urban areas) also did not report any new cases in the last 24 hours. The official said Ahmednagar district reported the highest 763 new infections followed by Mumbai district at 486. Satara district reported the highest 12 fatalities in the state. Among the eight regions of Maharashtra, the Pune region reported the highest 1,246 new COVID-19 cases followed by 1,011 in the Mumbai region. The Nashik region reported 890 new cases, Kolhapur 293, Latur 107,  Aurangabad 30, Nagpur 21 and the Akola region 10. According to the official, among the 48 fresh fatalities, the highest of 18 were reported from the Pune region, followed by nine each from Nashik and Kolhapur regions. Mumbai and Latur regions logged seven and five fatalities, respectively. Significantly, Aurangabad, Akola and Nagpur regions did not report any new coronavirus-related deaths. The official said Mumbai witnessed 486 new COVID-19 cases and four deaths, while Pune city reported 182 cases, but no fresh fatalities. Among the 39,984 active patients in the state, Pune district has the highest at 11,344, he said. Out of the 63,49,029 recovered patients across the state, the highest -  11,06,183 - were from Pune district, he added. Coronavirus figures for Maharashtra are as follows: Total cases  65,31,237; new cases 3,608, death toll 1,38,664; recoveries 63,49,029; active cases-39,984; total tests 5,74,76,142.