General practitioners in the state capital are upset over not being included in Maharashtra governments list of healthcare workers scheduled to get the first shot of the Covid vaccine in early 2021, but in Pune

State health minister Rajesh Tope on Thursday said he did not want to politicise the issue of administering the Covid-19 vaccine in Maharashtra, as it was being done in Bihar and Tamil Nadu.

The daily Covid-19 count has dropped below 50 in most PMC wards since the last one week, with areas under Bhavani Peth, Dhole Patil Road and Shivajinagar reporting single-digit cases over the past few days.

A sero survey report released this week of 5,000 residents of Pimpri Chinchwad had found Covid-19 antibodies in 34% of them.

(This story originally appeared in PuneMirror on October 30, 2020)

Maharashtra's coronavirus tally on Thursday increased to 16,66,668 with 5,902 new cases being reported, a health official said.

This story originally appeared in PuneMirror on October 29, 2020

The state government is preparing a list of commercial sex workers (CSWs) from across the state to provide them financial assistance from the Covid relief fund.

Vacant Covid-19 hospital beds will soon be made available for general patients, officials from the Pune Municipal Corporation have said.

At least 502 of the 1,150 villages in Pune district, which had earlier recorded Covid-19 cases, have reported no fresh infections during the period ranging from five to 14 days, Pune zilla parishad (ZP) officials said on Wednesday.

A serological survey in Pimpri Chinchwad found history of Covid-19 in 34% of 5,000 people tested.

(This story originally appeared in PuneMirror on October 29, 2020)

Considering the decline in the number of coronavirus cases and rise in recoveries, the local administration in Maharashtra's Latur district has temporarily shut 11 Covid-19 care centers

This story originally appeared in PuneMirror on October 28, 2020

The countrys largest power distribution company Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) is in financial trouble because of the mounting power bill arrears of consumers, especially residential, commercial and small industrial users.

The approval for a dedicated transit treatment centre for wild animals at Varade village in Karad taluka of Satara will help foresters get quick medical aid to injured animals.

The Pune Metropolitan Region (PMR) on Tuesday recorded 1,235 recoveries, more than double the days cases (549), pushing its total discharges above 2.99 lakh. Besides, 34 more patients succumbed to the coronavirus-related complications in the region in the last 24 hours, taking the toll to 7,767.

The state's Covid-19 testing in October has fallen 26% compared to levels last month, health department officials said.

Citizens are increasingly opting for measles-rubella or influenza and anti-tuberculosis (BCG) shots in their effort to counter or at least dull the attack of Covid-19, as they learn to live with the virus that has so far infected over 3.2 lakh people in the Pune Metropolitan Region (PMR).

(This story originally appeared in PuneMirror on October 28, 2020)

Maharashtra's coronavirus count on Tuesday increased to 16,54,028 with 5,363 new cases being reported, a state health official said. The state also recorded 115 deaths during the day, taking the death toll to 43,463, he said.

This story originally appeared in PuneMirror on October 27, 2020

A leopard attacked a policeman after it entered a residential area in Vihitgaon on the outskirts of Nashik city in the early hours of Tuesday, police said

As many as seven personnel of Maharashtra police tested positive for coronavirus, while two died of the infection in the last 24 hours, an official said on Tuesday.

Daily Covid-19 case tally in the Pune Metropolitan Region (PMR) dropped to 369 on Monday, its single-day least tally in four months, on reduced testing. This is lowest 24-hour tally in the region since June 22, when 352 people had tested positive.

The state government on Monday reduced the cost of RT-PCR test to a minimum of Rs980 from Rs1,200.

Hospitals in the Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad municipal limits now have more vacant beds following the recent drop in coronavirus cases, encouraging the two civic bodies to shift focus on resuming facilities for the treatment of non-Covid patients.

The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) will reopen all public gardens from November 1, mayor Murlidhar Mohol announced on Monday.

An unidentified man attacked the Shiv Senas former Lonavla city chief Rahul Shetty (38) with an axe and then shot him dead in full public view at a tea stall near his house at Jaichand chowk in the hill station town, about 60km from here, around 9.30am on Monday.

(This story originally appeared in Pune Mirror on October 27, 2020)

The Maharashtra government has brought down the rate for Covid-19 tests conducted at private laboratories by Rs 200, state health minister Rajesh Tope said on Monday.

A social activist from Ichalkarnji tehsil of Kolhapur district, some 230 kilometres from here, on Monday allegedly died by suicide some days after he had an argument with a civic worker and had complained against him.

A 43-year-old former president of a local Shiv Sena unit was shot dead in Lonavala hill town here in Maharashtra on Monday morning, police said. The incident took place around 10 am when the victim, Rahul Shetty, was outside his tea shop at Jaychand chowk in Lonavala, located about 70 km from the Pune district headquarters, superintendent of police Abhinav Deshmukh said.

(This story originally appeared in Pune Mirror on October 26, 2020)

It is looking for better capacity utilisation of the dedicated jumbo facilities set up, while keeping only a few private institutions on board to take care of complicated cases

The Rs 10,000 crore package for rain-affected farmers announced by the Uddhav Thackeray government was not enough to provide relief to all, BJP leader and former minister Pankaja Munde said on Sunday.

All the 11 major dams in Marathwada, including Manjra dam that is prone to dry storage and supplies water to Latur, Sina Kolegaon and Lower Dudhna in Osmanabad district are almost filled to the designed storage capacity, thanks to a record rainfall.

Restaurants, bars and food courts would be able to operate till 11.30pm from Sunday at 50% capacity in the Pune civic limits.

The administration should immediately use the lull in new Covid-19 cases to launch sero surveys to determine herd-immunity levels in the region, experts have now said.

The nightlife is set to revive in the city, though partially, after over seven months with the eateries, bars and lounges getting the permit to operate till 11.30pm from Sunday.

(This story originally appeared in PuneMirror on October 25, 2020)

(This story originally appeared in PuneMirror on October 24, 2020)

The Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) on Saturday staged protests across Maharashtra demanding that temples be reopened.

The Anti extortion cell of Thane city police arrested two persons from Nashik for firing and assaulting an alleged Matka operator in Ulhasnagar on Wednesday.

(This story originally appeared in PuneMirror on October 24, 2020)

The placement season has begun and preliminary figures from some top colleges paint a rosy picture despite the pandemic blues. The offers are as high as Rs 39 lakh per annum for tech students, and Rs 28 lakh for management students.

Use of antiviral remdesivir in the treatment of Covid patients has now dipped by over half in Pune district and the division, data released by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has shown.

Realtors across Pune said the recent home-buying trend has almost touched the highs of the past two years.

City police commissioner Amitabh Gupta on Friday told TOI that the family members of missing businessman Gautam Pashankar have handed over a note to the police, purportedly written by him, which stated that he was ending his life.