Maharashtra districts continue to have high Covid positivity rate

Despite imposing Covid-related curbs about a month ago, most Maharashtra districts, barring Mumbai, continue to witness a high positivity rate of 20% or more. Mumbai, which was earlier identified by the Centre as an area of concern, is managing a positivity rate of 9.9%, with cases coming down from 11,000 per day to around 4,000 per day now.

However, the positivity rate in Palghar (37.10%), Buldhana (36.67%), Nashik (36.24%), Ahmednagar (34.62%) districts is quite high. Fourteen other districts have a positivity rate of more than 25%. There are 15 other districts with a positivity rate of 10% to 24%.

In spite of imposing several restrictions including on the manufacturing activity and essential services, Maharashtra is reporting more than 60,000 cases daily. This prompted the Bombay HC last week to suggest to the state government complete lockdown similar to last year. Some cities such as Ahmednagar district have announced a ‘lockdown’ till May 10.


State officials said if the situation didn’t improve then either the state would take tougher measures or encourage other districts to go for a complete lockdown just like Ahmednagar.