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Updated: April 18, 2020 9:21:31 pm
Health workers carry out screening tests and sample collection at the Dharavi Forced Labor Camp (Express photograph by Nirmal Harindran)
With more than 3,600 coronavirus cases and 200 deaths, Maharashtra remains the most affected state in the country. This, facing the crisis of thousands of anxious migrant workers who want to go home, and the slums where social distancing is still an exaggerated idea of reality.
The state, with a population of more than Rs 11 million (according to the 2011 census), currently has more than 3,648 positive cases of new coronaviruses, including 330 recoveries and 201 deaths. The metropolitan city of Mumbai is an access pointHaving registered 126 deaths so far, and the few-month-old Shiv Sena-Congress-NCP government is on high alert with all economic activity on hold for at least 40 days.
Maharashtra coronavirus update April 18
The number of patients with coronavirus in Maharashtra reached 3,648 on Saturday and 328 new patients were detected.
A health department official said that of 328, 184 new patients were found in Mumbai and 78 in Pune.
Six people tested positive in Thane City, three in Bhiwandi, three in Thane District, five in Raigad, 11 in Mira Bhayander, five in Kalyan Dombivali, seven in Palghar, eight in Pimpri Chinchwad, three in Nagpur, two in Navi Mumbai, four in Satara, one in each district of Akola, Amravati, Nandurbar, Panvel, Aurangabad, Vasai Virar and Pune, he said.
At least 37 police personnel, including eight officers, across the state have tested positive for coronavirus since the outbreak, PTI reported. These police personnel, including 29 officers, possibly contacted COVID-19 patients while performing their duty during closure.
Meanwhile, the Maharashtra government has decided to pay 2,000 rupees each to more than 12 lakh of state-registered construction workers who have lost their livelihoods due to the ongoing coronavirus blockade.
In Bandra, migrant street workers want to go home
Along with the largest number of coronavirus cases in the state, India’s financial capital Mumbai is also facing a humanitarian crisis. Earlier this week, more than 2000 met on the outskirts of Mumbai Bandra suburban station demanding to return to their places of origin, hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced an extension of the national blockade until May 3 to contain the spread of the new coronavirus.
Most of the migrant workers, who had gathered outside the suburban train station on Tuesday, complained about the lack of access to food and rations. Forced to share their narrow rented rooms with eight or ten other people and use common public toilets, the men said they were more vulnerable to the coronavirus here and should be allowed to go home.
Stranded construction workers in Pune appeal to go home (Arul Horizon Express Photo)
On Wednesday, local authorities, including police officers, assured them that food would be provided and that they would be transferred to shelter homes if necessary. Although less in number than at the end of March, migrant workers are back on the roads in maharashtra
In the middle of the running of the bulls, a little relaxation
With a blockade extended “at least” until May 3, the Maharashtra government is considering a plan to grant industries one-time permission to transport its workers, trapped within the state, to workplaces so that operations can resume from April 20.
The government is also considering allowing industries, which operate within the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) areas at some municipal corporation boundaries, to operate as long as they do not enter containment zones. Sources said one of the main challenges before industrial units is getting workers to resume operations.
The statue of the common man wears a protective mask due to the coronavirus pandemic, in Mumbai (express photo by Ganesh Shirsekar)
Developers will also be able undertake construction work on ongoing projects at COVID-19 hot spots in Mumbai and Pune after April 20. But to do this, they will need special permission from the respective civic commissioners. Also, only those projects where workers are available on site will be allowed. Builders may not bring workers from abroad.
Stranded cane harvesters to return home
In what will be a great relief to sugar cane harvesters of more than 1.31 lakh stranded at 37 mills across the state, the government allowed their repatriation to their villages on Friday after undergoing a medical examination.
In an order issued on Friday, the chief secretary, Ajoy Mehta, asked the managing directors of these sugar mills to prepare an evacuation plan for workers who have remained in temporary housing units at the mills for more than 14 days.
The COVID-19 crisis and the national blockade occurred when the 2019-2020 sugar cane crushing season was on its last lap. Of the 143 factories they ground this season, about 16 were operational and migratory cane harvesters jammed in 37 factories.
Social distancing in groups of slums
The threat of positive cases being reported from one of Mumbai’s many slums has grown since the outbreak made its mark on the state. When Dharavi reported his first positive case On April 1, officials faced the challenges of crawling the community in a dense slum where more than 23,000 people are huddled on less than a square kilometer of land.
Up to this point, Dharavi has recorded 9 deaths and 86 cases. With COVID-19 cases found in new locations, Dharavi now has 22 containment zones. The civic agency has a 1,000-bed quarantine facility in Dharavi, where those seeking institutional quarantine will be kept. The G / South neighborhood, which comprises Worli-Koliwada, one of the most affected areas of the city, has fewer than 10 cases to reach the Mark 400.
New swab testing center at Podar hospital in Worli (express photo by Nirmal Harindran)
As the state government continues to plan at the micro level to administer hydroxychloroquine to high-risk individuals as a preventive medication against COVID-19, BMC Commissioner Praveen Pardeshi said the civic body will continue to administer the medication to 50,000 people at points critics of Dharavi and Worli
First challenge hits hard in CM for the first time
Just three months after his oath as Prime Minister of Maharashtra, after joining former rivals NCP and Congress, Shiv Sena’s Uddhav Thackeray faced his first challenge as CM with COVID-19 hitting hard on the state economy and all the days. lifetime.
The Prime Minister has formed a economists task force and other experts to help Maharashtra deal with financial problems due to the coronavirus outbreak (COVID-19). In a video address, he switched to Hindi from Marathi to connect with migrants from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and other states and strongly appealed to them to be patient and stay in Mumbai.
“Main kehta hoon Kyun pareshan ho rahe ho? Aap anya rajyon se yahan aaye ho, raho yahan. Hamare saath raho. Ek sankat hai, chunauti hai. Iska saamna milkar karenge. Aap Kyun Darte Hain? Koi ghar jane ki aavashyakta nahi hai. Aur hamey khushi nahi ho rahi hai aap ko ghar mein lock karke rakhe (Why are you worried? You came from other states, stay here with us. We have a crisis at hand, it is a challenge. We are going to face it together. There is no He needs to come back now. We’re also not happy to keep him locked up in their homes), “Thackeray said.
Whats Next
Like the rest of the country, Maharashtra aims to flatten the curve for new coronavirus cases. Maharashtra, with a mortality rate of 6.6%, is among the three worst affected states in India. 89.27 percent of cases focus on Mumbai, Pune, and Thane, and 83 percent of recovered patients are also from these three districts
With modified testing criteria to assess only symptomatic individuals, BMC Thursday registered a new reduction in new cases, with 107 positive results for coronavirus in Mumbai, a drop of 140 on Wednesday and 204 on Tuesday. In two days, cases are down 47.5 percent.
State officials said 300 patients have so far been released from the isolation center after recovery. On Thursday, five people were discharged. At least 71,076 people remained in home quarantine and 6,108 in institutional quarantine. People under institutional quarantine are all high-risk people suspected of having coronavirus infection.
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