Maharashtra on Wednesday (March 24) recorded 31,855 new COVID-19 cases. This is the highest single-day surge in the state since the pandemic outbreak last year. The previous highest single-day surge was of 30,535 cases, which was recorded on Saturday, March 21.
Besides, 95 COVID-19 deaths were recorded in the day, taking the death toll to 53,684. The case fatality rate in the state is 2.09%.
15,098 patients were discharged in the day, taking the tally to 22,62,593. The recovery rate in the state stands at 88.21%.
Currently, 12,68,064 people are in home quarantine and 13,499 people are in institutional quarantine.
The total number of active cases in Maharashtra is 2,47,299.
The Mumbai circle --which consists of MCGM, Thane, TMC, Navi Mumbai, KDMC, Ulhasnagar MC, Bhivandi Nijampur MC, Mira Bhayandar MC, Palghar, Vasai Virar MC, Raigad, Panvel MC--recorded 9147 new cases on Wednesday.
The Nashik circle--which consists of Nashik, Nashik MC, Malegaon MC, Ahmednagar, Ahmednagar MC, Dhule, Dhule MC, Jalgaon, Jalgaon MC, Nandurbar--reported 4109 fresh COVID-19 cases.
The Pune circle--which includes Pune, PMC, PCMC, Solapur, Solapur MC, Satara--recorded 7562 new cases.
The Kolhapur circle reported 271 new cases, Aurangabad circle 2301, Latur circle 1872, Akola circle 1760, and Nagpur circle recorded 4833 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan on Wednesday held a press conference in New Delhi and asserted that the spike in COVID-19 cases in Maharashtra and Punjab is of grave concern.
Bhushan said, "Two states are of grave concern, that have shown a recent surge in cases - Maharashtra, that reported more than 28,000 cases in the last 24 hours and Punjab, that is reporting a huge number of cases in proportion to its population." However, besides them, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh are of concern too. Gujarat reporting around 1700 cases daily and Madhya Pradesh around 1500 cases.
He further stated that the top 10 districts where maximum active cases are concentrated include nine districts from Maharashtra and one from Karnataka. The districts are Pune, Nagpur, Mumbai, Thane, Nashik, Aurangabad, Bengaluru Urban, Nanded, Jalgaon and Akola.
