COVID-19: 4 dead in Maharashtra, 8 cured, total 107 affected

A 65-year-old man who arrived here from the UAE via Ahmedabad passed away due to COVID-19 late on Monday night, while the number of positive cases shot up to 107 in the state with 10 new cases surfacing on Tuesday, officials said here.

Spelling cheers on the eve of Gudi Padva -- the Maharashtrian New Year which falls on Wednesday -- eight COVID-19 cases admitted to various Mumbai hospitals have been fully cured and discharged, Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai health official Daksha Shah announced.

She said that among the patients under treatment at Kasturba Hospital, 12 persons who were COVID-19 positive have turned negative of which eight were going home.

The latest coronavirus casualty took the death toll due to the disease in Mumbai to four in the past one week. Another 94 suspected cases are admitted to various city hospitals, according to the MCGM.

Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, in an address to the state, urged people not to resort to shunning people who come from abroad and asked people to cooperate with the government by remaining indoors.

The government also issued ordered to doctors to open clinis and medical shops across the state as Out Patient Departments in some hospitals have been shut down.

Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, state Congress President and Revenue Minister Balasaheb Thorat and Health Minister Rajesh Tope appealed to the people to celebrate Gudi Padva indoors by exercising all precautions in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Thackeray also lauded Mumbai Police for the seizure of 2.50 million masks worth Rs 15 crore, while the state government has ordered a crackdown against hoarding and blackmarketeering of essential commodities.

The MCGM said that the latest victim who died late on Monday was admitted to the Kasturba Hospital in a critical condition on Monday with fever, cough and breathlessness.

He had a history of foreign travel, arriving from UAE to Ahmedabad on March 15 and then to Mumbai on March 20, plus complaints of high blood pressure coupled with uncontrolled diabetes to which he succumbed late last night after a few hours of treatment.

On the first day of the total lockout imposed in Maharashtra, there were many instances of people flouting orders with the police resorting to corrective action and booking 112 persons for violating the laws in Mumbai.

The new coronavirus positive cases in Maharashtra detected since last night include three from Pune and one from Satara. The suspected cases include people with a history of recent foreign travel to Peru, UAE and Saudi Arabia. A total of 418 people with history of foreign travel are in quarantine in Mumbai.

The three earlier victims included a 68-year-old Fillipino and two other men, both aged 63.-IANS