By Quaid Najmi

Mumbai, May 21 (IANS): The coronavirus scourge raged in Maharashtra with 64 Covid-19 deaths on Thursday and new cases shooting past 41K, officials said here, as the state continued to notch fatalities above 50 and over 2,000 patients consecutively since the past five days.

This comes to roughly one death every 22 minutes, and a staggering 98 new cases every hour.

With 64 fatalities - down by 12 from highest-ever 76 notched on May 19 - the state death toll now stands at 1,454 and the total number of coronavirus patients increased from 39,397 to 41,642 on Thursday.

The Health Department said with today's cases, the number of active cases have gone up to 28,454, swelling by a stupendous 2,290 over Wednesday's 26,164.

Of the total 64 fatalities, 41 were recorded in Mumbai alone for the second day running - the second highest single-day figure after 43 deaths on May 19 - and the city's toll increased from Thursday's 841 to 882 now, while the number of Covid-19 positive patients here shot up by 1,382 cases to 25,500.

Mumbai's Dharavi slum alone continued to be a major hotspot and concern for the health authorities, notching 47 new cases on Thursday, taking the total number of patients to 1,425, and 56 deaths to date.

Besides Mumbai's 41 deaths, there were nine in Malegaon, eight in Pune, three in Aurangabad, two in Thane (Navi Mumbai), besides one in Solapur.

They comprised 36 men and 28 women, and nearly 60 per cent of them suffered from other serious ailments such as diabetes, hypertension, heart problems and asthma.

On the positive side, 1,408 fully cured patients returned home on Thursday, taking the number of those discharged to 11,726.

Cracking the whip, the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has ordered cases to be filed against those private hospitals, nursing homes and clinics which are shut during the lockdown period.

Many private healthcare institutions have not opened up - ignoring the BMC's green signal - to help clear the rush of patients and ease the load on the public hospitals during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

Though estimates are not available, hundreds of medium and small private hospitals, nursing homes and neighbourhood clinics continue to remain closed forcing patients to throng government hospitals.

The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) conducted a flag march in the congested areas of minority-dominated Bhendi Bazar and Nagpada areas late on Wednesday to ensure strict implementation of lockdown.

Similarly, the Bhiwandi police (Thane) also carried out a flag march today in this township where huge crowds suddenly trooped out on the roads last night after wildcat rumours floated that Bollywood actor Salman Khan was coming to distribute relief materials.

The Mumbai Metropolitan Region (Thane Division) continued to cause huge health concerns with 993 Covid-19 deaths and cases shooting to 31,851.

Though trailing a distant second after Mumbai, Pune Division fatalities touched 264, besides 5,371 patients.

The next major area of concern is Nashik Division with 94 deaths and 1,425 positive cases, followed by Aurangabad Division with 40 fatalities and 1,297 cases, and finally Akola Division with 34 deaths and 641 cases.

There's also Latur Division with six deaths and 178 cases, Kolhapur Division with five deaths and 357 patients, and finally Nagpur Division with seven deaths and 474 patients.

Meanwhile, the number of people sent to home quarantine increased from 404,892 to 437,304 - a huge single-day spurt of 32,412 - and those in institutional quarantine went up from 26,752 to 26,865, while the state's containment zones increased from 1,849 on Wednesday to 1,949 on Thursday.

As many as 15,894 health teams have carried out a survey of a population of around 64.8 lakh in the state.