Maharashtra Records Highest Single Day Spike With 7,862 Fresh Covid-19 Cases, 226 New Deaths

India has crossed the mark of 8 lakh Covid-19 cases and Maharashtra continues to remain the worst-hit state in the country. On Friday, Maharashtra recorded its highest single day hike of 7,862 new coronavirus cases. The total tally of the state has now crossed over 2.38 lakh. Out of these, 95,647 are active cases. The state also reported 226 deaths on Friday, taking the total tally of deaths in the state to 9,893.

The state's capital city Mumbai has reached to a total of 90,461, out of which 23,035 are active cases. The death toll in the city has crossed the 5,000-mark. However, the densely populated slum area of Dharavi has started to show improvements. For the past few days, the new cases being recorded per day have drastically reduced. The World Health Organization (WHO) has also lauded the efforts of the slum to successfully break the chain of Covid-19 transmission in the region.

Due to an alarming number of Covid-19 cases, a complete lockdown for 10 days has been imposed on the areas of Pune, Pimpri-chinchwad and some rural parts of pune. As per media reports, the lockdown will start from July 13 and only essential services like hospitals, dairy and medical stores will remain open.  On Friday, the authorities of Nanded district stated in media reports that a curfew will be enforced in the district, as 34 new positive case came to light, which has now taken the region's total coronavirus toll to 558. 

Restrictions have also been extended in the Thane district. The Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) has said in media reports that they have extended the lockdown till July 19 in the area. The region has seen a massive surge in positive cases since easing the lockdown in the first week of June.

Remdesivir and Tocilizumab, the two drugs still undergoing trials for the possible treatment of Covid-19, are in huge demand in the state. The doctors have reportedly increased prescribing it for severely ill patients. However,  the scientific evidence of the drugs being effective agents in battling the virus is still awaited.