'Worse than first wave': Maharashtra sees 55,469 new COVID-19 cases, Oxygen demand goes up

Mumbai, Apr 6: Maharashtra on Tuesday reported 55,469 fresh coronavirus positive cases, the second highest spike in the last two days, taking the tally of infections to 31,13,354while 297 deaths pushed the toll to 56,330, the state health department said.

Maharashtra is now left with 4,72,283 active cases.

Mumbai recorded 10,040 new cases and 32 deaths.

At the same time, 34,256 people were discharged on Tuesday, taking the count of the recoveries in the state to 25,83,331, the department said in a release.

The state''srecovery rate now stands at 82.98 per cent and the fatality rate is 1.81 per cent.

Maharashtra had reported the highest spike in daily cases on Sunday, when it added over 57,000 infections.

With 2,01,693 new tests, the number of samples tested so far in Maharashtra has gone up to 2,09,17,486, it said.

Meanwhile, the requirement of oxygen cylinders for treating Covid-19 patients has gone up by about three times in Maharashtra's Aurangabad district, officials said on Sunday.

The district administration has also initiated steps to increase the oxygen storage capacity in hospitals here and has asked contractors to pace up the work, a health department official told PTI.

The rates have been capped by the government and oxygen is being supplied at the rate of ₹15.22 per cubic metre, which is the highest now. Earlier, the rate came down to ₹12 when the demand was less, the official said.