A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator from Pune’s Pimpri-Chinchwad has tested positive for COVID-19.
According to sources, the MLA’s wife, too, tested positive. Their results came in on Tuesday morning. Both are undergoing treatment at a private hospital in the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC), which has witnessed an alarming surge in fresh cases in the last 15 days.
The MLA was present during a recent visit by former chief minister and current Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis to Pimpri-Chinchwad. The PCMC saw a spike of 182 new cases today, as its total case tally surged to 2,909 of whom 1,143 cases are active. As many as 1,717 persons have been discharged while the death toll stands at 73.
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Meanwhile, Pune district witnessed another surge of 380 new cases, taking its total case tally to 21,237, said authorities. Seven more fatalities pushed the total death toll to 721, said Pune Divisional Commissioner Deepak Mhaisekar. However, of the total cases, only 8,106 are active cases, while there have been 12,410 recoveries thus far. As many as 423 of the active patients are in a critical condition, with 59 among these reported in the last 24 hours.
The district’s recovery rate stood at 58.44% while the present case fatality rate is 3.40%.
Despite the relentless surge in new cases in Pune city following the easing of lockdown regulations, Pune civic body authorities maintained that the city’s case fatality rate (3.93%) was lesser that the State’s figure of 4.69%. The city’s doubling rate stands at 19.89 days — a marginal decrease from last week’s figure of 20.77 days.
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Meanwhile, the total death toll in Pune division has now reached 1,047. The division’s total case tally has reached 25,949 of whom 9,296 are active cases while 15,606 persons have been discharged till date.
The death toll in Solapur district — the worst afflicted after Pune in the division — has climbed to 261 with eight new deaths reported today. It also reported 84 new cases to take its total case tally to 2,530. Of these, 714 are active while the number of recoveries stands at 1,555.
Satara reported 37 new cases as its total case tally rose to 1,011 of whom 255 are active cases with 713 recoveries thus far. The district’s death toll stands at 43.
Sangli reported 12 new cases to take its tally to 340 of whom 113 are active ones, while with 17 new cases, Kolhapur’s total case tally stands at 831. While only 108 of these 831 cases are active (with 713 recoveries till date), the district’s number of active cases has risen by 65 in the last 72 hours. Sangli has reported 12 while Kolhapur has reported ten fatalities thus far.
Cases also piled up in Aurangabad district in Marathwada, which reported a massive 202 new ones today, taking the total to 5,239. Of the total cases, 2,436 are active ones while 2,256 persons have recovered thus far. With nine fatalities recorded yesterday, Aurangabad’s death count has climbed to 247.
Of the 202 new cases reported, authorities said 114 were from Aurangabad city while the remaining 88 cases had emerged from the district’s rural areas.