Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray will chair a meeting via video conference on Thursday to assess the present COVID-19 situation in the state.
He will chair the meeting with the COVID-19 Task Force at 12:30 pm, said the Chief Minister's Office.
Maharashtra, which is witnessing a decline in active COVID cases, reported 6,857 infections on Wednesday.
There are 85,913 active cases in the state, as per the Union Health Ministry.
However, despite declining cases and rising demands for lifting the Covid-19 Level 3 restrictions, the state cabinet on Wednesday did not take any decision. Instead, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray intervened and said the state will decide only after the Task Force presents its recommendations at a meeting on today.
Last week, deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar had said he will discuss with the CM the traders’ demand to extend business timings beyond 4 pm. Besides, he had also announced raising the issue of allowing suburban train travel for fully vaccinated citizens.
Public health minister Rajesh Tope had said his department has submitted the proposal to relax curbs in 14 of the total 36 districts where the average Covid-19 growth rate has been below 1% for the past three weeks.
Maharashtra reported 6,857 new coronavirus infections and 286 fresh fatalities on Wednesday, taking the tally of cases to 62,82,914 and the death toll to 1,32,145, a state health department official said.
The state witnessed a rise in new COVID-19 cases and fatalities as compared to Tuesday, when it had reported 6,258 infections and 254 deaths.
With 6,105 patients getting discharged from hospitals during the day, the count of recoveries in Maharashtra went up to 60,64,856, leaving the state with 82,545 active cases, the official said.
According to the official, the state has 4,88,537 people in home quarantine and 3,364 in institutional quarantine.
Maharashtra's coronavirus recovery rate now stands at 96.53 per cent, while the fatality rate is 2.01 per cent.
The official said the cumulative number of tests climbed to 4,73,69,757, of which 1,93,042 were conducted in the last 24 hours.
Significantly, Bhandara district did not record any new coronavirus infection in the last 24 hours.
He said the Mumbai region reported 1,168 new COVID-19 cases and 112 fatalities, including 403 cases and six deaths in Mumbai city.
The tally of COVID-19 cases in the Mumbai region surged to 16,37,744, while the death toll increased to 34,258, the official said.
According to him, the Pune region reported 2,314 new COVID-19 cases and 78 fresh fatalities, including 307 infections and five deaths in Pune city.
The Pune region's COVID-19 caseload rose to 14,87,544, while the death toll increased to 28,449.
The official said the Kolhapur region reported 1,690 new COVID-19 cases, followed by the Nashik region at 1,221, the Latur region at 359, the Aurangabad region at 56, the Akola region at 27 and the Nagpur region at 22 infections.
The Kolhapur region registered 56 fresh fatalities, followed by the Aurangabad region at 18, the Nashik region at 15, the Latur region at four, the Akola region at two and the Nagpur region at one death, the official said.
Among 82,545 active patients in the state, Pune district has the highest at 15,768, he said.
Among the 60,64,856 recovered patients across the state, the highest at 10,51,466 were from Pune district, he added.
Coronavirus figures in Maharashtra are as follows: Total cases 62,82,914; new cases 6,857; total deaths 1,32,145; total recoveries 60,64,856; active cases 82,545, tests conducted so far 4,73,69,757.
(With inputs from Sanjay Jog and agencies)
