Maha's Covid-19 death toll now 8, 196 cases positive

A 45-year old man with no known history of foreign travel has died in Maharashtra's Buldhana due to suspected Covid-19 complications, raising the state's death toll to eight, officials said here on Sunday.

"The patient, who suffered from diabetes, was admitted to a private hospital late on Thursday and then shifted to the district civil hospital on Saturday morning. He succumbed in barely two hours," Buldhana Collector Suman Chandra told IANS.

Since he died due to respiratory issues, the district authorities send the deceased's samples for testing and he turned out to be Covid-19 positive, according to the test reports received on Sunday.

"In view of this, we have put in motion all relevant protocols and measures to check out his contacts and collect other details pertaining to his medical history," she added.

Earlier on Sunday, the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai announced the seventh death - a 40-year woman with a medical history of hypertension and severe respiratory complaints since past 3-4 days.

She succumbed late on Saturday night due to breathlessness and chest pains, and her Covid-19 report came positive on Sunday.

So far, almost all the deaths, save one, are from Mumbai, including the latest woman victim who becomes the youngest among all the victims who were in their 60s and above.

Health Minister Rajesh Tope announced this evening that the fresh Covid-19 positive cases have risen to 196 with fresh cases reported on Sunday from Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Sangli and Jalgaon and undergoing treatment in various hospitals.

Among the positive cases under treatment till date, the condition of at least five has been described as 'critical'.

The current breakdown is: Mumbai-Thane 107, Pune 37, Sangli 25, Nagpur 13, Ahmednagar and Yavatmal three each, Satara two, and one each in Ratnagiri, Aurangabad, Sindhudurg, Kolhapur and Jalgaon.

Against these, 34 patients who have fully recovered have been discharged in the state so far, including 14 in Mumbai, 15 in Pune, three in Yavatmal, and one each in Nagpur and Aurangabad, Tope said.

Against the backdrop of the zooming number of positive cases in Mumbai and the state in the past three days, a worried Maharashtra government has written to the Army, requesting it to remain on standby for rendering 'any medical emergency' assistance if required.

The Maharashtra government has again appealed to the people to remain indoors, switch off the air conditioners in homes/offices, and avoid overcrowding in public places even for buying essentials as the state permitted all shops in urban centres to remain open 24x7. IANS