The state cabinet held a discussion on the Delta-plus variant cases found in the state. The ministers were of the opinion that the five-level unlock plan should be reviewed and if required stricter restrictions should be brought back to keep the spread of the highly virulent and transmissible strain in check. After a gap of one week Maharashtra reported over 10000 cases while Mumbai reported a 30% jump in cases as compared to Tuesday (568). On Wednesday 10066 cases were reported in the state and 864 in Mumbai the highest in 19 days. The city saw 23 deaths. Wednesdays case tally was the highest since June 4 (968) and the death toll highest in 12 days. “The third wave in most countries has been fuelled by the Delta-plus strain. With 21 cases in the state it is a matter of concern. We have requested the CM to hold a meeting with the task force to review the unlock plan and consider adding some restrictions to keep the spread in check” said a minister who attended the meeting. Health minister Rajesh Tope said “Daily cases in the state have been fluctuating between 8000 and 10000 for the last 10-12 days and are not reducing as fast as they should…we are trying to understand the reason for this slow decline.” The states total caseload rose to 59.9 lakh and the death toll touched 119303. As many as 345 unreported deaths were also added to the cumulative as part of the reconciliation exercise. Similarly the total cases in Mumbai touched 7.2 lakh and deaths 15338. BMC officials said the fluctuations are not alarming and could be the function of more tests (37905) done in the last 24-hour period. The state has tested over 2.4 lakh people in the last 24 hours taking the total tests conducted since the outbreak of the pandemic to 4 crore nearly 30% of the 12-crore population of Maharashtra. The BMC is setting up paediatric wards in its hospitals in preparation for the third wave. In jumbo centres BMC has decided to make separate enclosures for Covid-negative parents of Covid-positive children admitted there. “The parents cannot stay with the infected child but on compassionate grounds we will ensure they are in the same facility” said BMC Additional Municipal Commissioner Suresh Kakani. India reported 54069 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours and the daily positivity rate dropped to 2.91 per cent according to the Union Health Ministry. The daily positivity rate has been below 5 per cent for 17 consecutive days. The active cases further declined to 627057 taking the weekly positivity rate to 3.04 per cent while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has improved to 96.61 per cent. With the fresh cases the countrys tally of cases has climbed to 30082778 as per Union Health Ministry. The COVID-19 death toll climbed to 391981 with 1321 fresh fatalities in the last 24 hours.The recoveries in last 24 hours taking the recovery tally to 29063740.

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