Maharashtra on Friday (March 26) recorded 36,902 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 35,952 cases, which was recorded on Thursday, March 25.
Besides, 112 COVID-19 deaths were recorded in the day, taking the death toll to 53,907. The case fatality rate in the state is 2.04%.
17,019 patients were discharged in the day, taking the tally to 23,00,056. The recovery rate in the state stands at 87.2%.
Currently, 14,29,998 people are in home quarantine and 14,578 people are in institutional quarantine.
The total number of active cases in Maharashtra is 2,82,451.
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 9915 new cases on Friday.
The Nashik circle--which consists of Nashik, Nashik MC, Malegaon MC, Ahmednagar, Ahmednagar MC, Dhule, Dhule MC, Jalgaon, Jalgaon MC, Nandurbar--reported 6209 fresh COVID-19 cases.
The Pune circle--which includes Pune, PMC, PCMC, Solapur, Solapur MC, Satara--recorded 8283 new cases.
The Kolhapur circle reported 360 new cases, Aurangabad circle 2919, Latur circle 2213, Akola circle 1957, and Nagpur circle recorded 5019 new COVID-19 cases on Friday.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray-led Maharashtra government on Friday announced the imposition of a night curfew across the state from Sunday (March 28) due to a massive rise in COVID-19 cases. The decision was taken after Thackeray held a meeting with district collectors and divisional commissioners through video conferencing.
"I have no intention of imposing a lockdown, but given the growing number of patients, there is a possibility that the health facilities that we have set up on a large scale across the state might also fall short," said CM Uddhav Thackeray. Taking this into consideration, Uddhav has directed district collectors to focus on the availability of health facilities, beds and medicines.
Uddhav said the public needs to realize that the threat has not gone away, on the contrary, it has increased. "The number of COVID-19 patients is increasing rapidly. It is not possible to say how much more it will increase in the coming period. In such a case, there is a need to consider strict measures," said the Chief Minister. He also instructed the district collectors to enforce lockdown if there is a need in the district where the number of patients is increasing rapidly.
