The upswing in COVID-19 cases continues in Maharashtra as State added 14,317 new infections on Thursday making this the single-day highest record in 2021.
In the last 24 hours, 57 patients died and 7193 got discharged from the hospital.
With this hike, the active cases in the state have reached 1,06,070 and the total cases stand at 22,66,374.
The total recoveries are around 21,06,400 while the total death toll is at 52,667.
Addressing the people, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said that people should take the vaccine.
Even after vaccination, using the mask is a must, even hand washing, and these small things are important, he added.
Thackeray, 60, received the first dose of the vaccine against COVID-19 at the government-run J J Hospital on Thursday. Speaking after taking the jab, he said, "Some areas of Maharashtra will witness strict lockdown measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus infection. The government is going to hold a special meeting with officials before coming out with the lockdown measures."
"We are very worried about Maharashtra,” said V K Paul, Member, Health, Niti Aayog, who also heads the national Covid-19 task force.
Earlier in the day, Maharashtra Minister Nitin Raut announced that 'strict lockdown' will be enforced in Nagpur from March 15 to 21 in view of spike in COVID-19 cases here.
On October 7 2020, the state had reported 14,578 cases after which the number of daily cases had declined. However, since February 14 new cases have surged.
Nagpur city recorded the highest 1,701 new cases, followed by 1,514 cases in Pune and 1,509 in Mumbai city.
Mumbai division reported 2,856 new cases and 11 deaths, taking the cumulative caseload to 7,49,849 and death toll to 19,921.
Nashik division's case tally stood at 3,09,421 and death toll at 5,340.
Kolhapur division has reported 1,20,744 cases and 4,082 deaths till now, while Aurangabad division's case tally stood at 87,369 and death count at 2,081.
With 97,778 tests carried out on Thursday, the state has so far tested 1,72,13,312 samples for coronavirus.
There are 4,80,083 people in home quarantine while 4,719 are in institutional quarantine.
(With agencies inputs)