Coronavirus: Maharashtra registers lowest single-day tally in over five months

Of the 2,535 cases logged yesterday, the share of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) was 791. MMR, which nestles the metropolis and satellite towns, now has 6,07,073 cases. 18,347 have lost their lives till now.

In Mumbai alone, 10,585 have died and the case tally stands at 2,70,119.

Yesterday, 12 died in Mumbai city and seven in Nashik and Malegaon cities.

As per the state's health department, the recovery rate is 92.49%, and the fatality rate stands at 2.63%. A record of 7,48,226 people have been placed in home quarantine and 5,395 are in institutional quarantine.

The average doubling rate of coronavirus cases stands at 273 days and the growth rate at 0.25%, said Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), as per PTI.

It is important to note that Mumbai and Delhi have nearly the same positivity rate. While the Maharashtra capital has been reporting less than 1,000 cases daily, Delhi is in the middle of a third wave, adding 6,000-7,000 infections to its tally almost every day.

As per BMC officials, the difference in caseload is driven by contrasting testing strategies in both the cities.

The officials said Delhi is testing people randomly, whereas Mumbai is focused on ones showing symptoms and those who could have come in contact with an infected person.

They said Mumbai adopted a cautious unlocking strategy, unlike Delhi. In the maximum city, the suburban trains are still off-limits to a large chunk of population.

In Maharashtra, temples were allowed to re-open only from Monday.

Tellingly, the re-opening of temples, shut since March, turned into a political issue in Maharashtra, with even Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari taking a jibe at the Shiv Sena-led government for turning "secular."

When finally, temples were allowed to function, BJP's MLA Ram Kadam said Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray's government gave in to pressure from the opposition.

Naturally, the Sena was quick to hit back.

Sena MP Sanjay Raut reminded that it was Prime Minister Narendra Modi who imposed a lockdown, effectively shutting all places of worship.

"There's no reason for BJP to take credit for victory of Hindutva as the decision was taken amid the COVID-19 pandemic. It was God's will that people stay at home and now it is God's will that places of worship re-open, with precautions," Raut said.