Mumbai, March 23 : In a turn for the worse, a COVID-19 patient from Philippines died, taking the total toll in Maharashtra to 3, while positive cases further shot up to 97, officials said here on Monday.
The deceased - the third victim of coronavirus in past five days in Mumbai - was a 68-year-old man who initially tested positive and later negative after apparently recovery.
He was admitted to the Kasturba Hospital 10 days ago and post-recovery when he tested negative, moved to a private hospital where he succumbed late on Sunday.
"The patient was a case of diabetes mellitus and asthma.
He was admitted on March 13. He had developed acute renal failure and respiratory distress," the Kasturba Hospital said in a statement today.
Among the new positive cases, 17 are from Mumbai, four from Sangli, and one each from Pune and Satara, rattling the health authorities, as Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray clamped a complete lockdown in the state this evening.
"The new cases include many close contacts or family members of earlier positive cases and 8 with travel history to affected countries," an official said of the 38 cases jump in just three days.
The test results of around 200 other suspected cases are expected shortly, as announced by Health Minister Rajesh Tope earlier.
The figures shot up even as Tope warned that the state stood on the threshold of a 'multiplication stage' of the virus and emphasized the need for people to maintain 'social distancing'.
"This is the stage to exercise extreme precautions since we don't want to enter from Phase II to Phase III at any cost," Tope reiterated, urging people to strictly remain indoors as 'isolation' is the key to battling the COVID-19 virus spread.
Today's is the biggest single-day spurt of positive cases - from 53 on Friday to 64 on Saturday to 74 on Sunday and now 97 on Monday, the second highest in the country after Kerala.
--IANS
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Source: IANS
