No let-up as Covid-19 claims 1,500-plus lives in Maha

There was no respite from coronavirus in Maharashtra on Friday with 63 Covid-19 deaths and a staggering new high of 2,940 cases, taking the total number of patients to over 44K, officials said, as the state continued to notch fatalities above 50 and new patients over 2K consecutively for the past six days.

This comes to roughly one death every 23 minutes, and a staggering average 123 new cases recorded every hour in the state today.

With 63 fatalities down by 13 from highest 76 notched on May 19 the state death toll has crossed the 1,500 mark to now stand at 1,517 and the total number of coronavirus patients increased from 41,642 yesterday to 44,582 today.

The health department said of the total number of cases declared today, 30,474 were 'active cases' swelling by 2,020 over yesterday's 28,454.

The Mumbai death toll crossed the 900-mark and of the total 63 fatalities, 27 were recorded here taking the city deaths up from yesterday's 882 to 909 now, while the number of Covid-19 positive patients here shot up by 1,751 cases to touch 27,251 today.

Mumbai's crowded Dharavi slum alone continued to be a major red-hotspot and concern for the health authorities, notching 53 new cases today, taking the total number of patients to 1,478, and 57 deaths to date.

Besides Mumbai's 27 deaths, there were 9 in Pune, 8 in Jalgaon, Solapur 5, Thane, Palghar and Aurangabad districts 3 each, Satara 2, and one each in Nashik

( With inputs from IANS )