Mumbai: Maharashtra did not record any fresh coronavirus disease (Covid-19) positive case on Friday morning, as the overall tally of the infected people stood at 423, including 20 deaths.
On Thursday, 88 new Covid-19 positive cases were recorded of which 54 were in Mumbai and 11 in Pune.
The state health department authorities said that the latest tally included cases that were diagnosed by private laboratories over the past few days.
The spike in cases, which has been largely attributed to the Tablighi Jamaat’s international congregation at Nizamuddin in Delhi between March 13 and 15, has forced the state government to ramp up its preventive measures. The government has urged all districts and civic authorities to identify hotspots and containment areas across the state and proactively search for the Jamaat attendees.
State health minister Rajesh Tope said that up to 1,400 people have been traced, who had links to the Jamaat meet. “We have traced the Jamaat attendees in their respective districts after we received a comprehensive list from the central government. We’ve all their details, and also all those people who came in contact with them,” the minister said.
In Mumbai, the civic administration has traced 105 of the 127 people, who attended the Nizamuddin event, and quarantined them.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) authorities have circulated a ward-wise list to all its ward officers to track the 127 people. A search operation is on trace the remaining 22 missing people, said a senior BMC official. The civic body has sealed 212 containment zones and put them under closed-circuit television (CCTV) surveillance, as Mumbai has emerged as the epicentre of Covid-19 outbreak in Maharashtra.
In a video-conference meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi held on Thursday, Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray apprised him about the decisions being taken by the state government. Modi has hinted at not extending the ongoing 21-day nationwide lockdown, which started on March 25.
The PM also suggested that the lockdown can be lifted in a phased manner.
Maharashtra has set up 30 new hospitals dedicated to Covid-19 patients that have a total bed capacity of 2,305 to prevent the viral outbreak.
The state government also plans to start random antibody tests to ascertain the number of Covid-19 positive cases. Tope said the Centre has approved the proposal to entrust both state government and private agencies to carry out random antibody tests under the watch of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). Each antibody test could cost up to Rs 400.
On Friday morning, there was a surge of consumers at vegetable markets and grocery shops. Tope hinted that the government is planning to keep the markets and shops open on alternate days in a bid to reduce crowds at these places.
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