Even as COVID-19 cases in the Pune district is about to touch the 60,000-mark, there are over 1,000 villages wherein no coronavirus case has been reported.
"We have not seen a single positive case; which means, so far, not a single resident in over 1,000 villages has tested positive for the virus,” Pune Zilla Parishad CEO Ayush Prasad told the Indian Express.
The ZP CEO added that most of the cases are in villages close to Pune city and Pimpri-Chinchwad. He said that the disease has spread to the villages due to people returning from cities like Pune and Mumbai, and constant movement from villages to city areas and back.
Prasad added that the movement of essential service providers like doctors, nurses, compounders, and vegetable vendors, and also those who attended marriages or social ceremonies have also resulted in the surge of the COVID-19 cases.
Meanwhile, Pune district reported the highest single-day increase of 3,218 coronavirus positive cases on Wednesday, that pushed its tally to 59,634, a health official said.
The death toll reached 1,504 with 62 patients succumbing to the infection in the last 24 hours, he said.
"Of the 3,218 new cases, 1,625 were found in the areas within the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) limits, where the number of patients has now reached 39,060," the official said.
As many as 883 patients were discharged from hospitals in the district on Wednesday.
As 1,189 cases were reported in the neighbouring industrial township of Pimpri Chinchwad, its COVID-19 count mounted to 13,746, he added.
The number of positive cases reported so far from the rural parts of the district, areas within the Pune Cantonment Board limits and the civil hospital went up to 6,828, the official said.
(With PTI inputs)
