New Delhi | Jagran News Desk: Continuing with the spike, Maharashtra during the last 24 hours recorded more than 13,000 new COVID-19 cases, which is the highest single-day toll of this year in the state. 13,659 cases of COVID-19 were recorded in Maharashtra on Wednesday taking the overall caseload in the state to 22,52,057. With 54 new fatalities, the death toll in the state also reached 52,610. There are 99,008 active cases in the state.

This is the highest one-day toll recorded in Maharashtra since October 8 last year when the state reported 13,395 COVID-19 cases in a day. Since then the number of daily cases declined in Maharashtra. However, for the past few weeks, the state is witnessing a surge in new cases, prompting the authorities to take restrictive actions to curb the further spread of the deadly virus.

Several districts in the state including Thane, Nanded, Aurangabad and Nashik have imposed night curfews and partial lockdowns in order to contain the spread in the region. In Nashik, educational institutions have been closed till March 15, while all shops and establishments, except those engaged in essential services, will be closed from 7 pm to 7 am.

The Thane district administration had imposed a lockdown in 16 hotspot areas identified by the administration till March 31. The order said that all restrictions that were in place during the nationwide lockdown declared earlier would be in force during this time as well. Aurangabad administration has imposed a "partial lockdown" between March 11 and April 4 during which markets, malls and cinema halls shall remain shut during the weekends.

Mumbai city reported 1,539 cases, taking the COVID-19 tally to 3,37,134 and five deaths took the fatality count to 11,515. The wider Mumbai division reported 2,933 new cases and nine deaths, taking the cumulative caseload to 7,46,993 and death toll to 19,910.

In Mumbai, the BMC has started taking strict actions against the violators of COVID-19 norms and SOPs in the city. In its bid to curb the spread of the virus, the BMC said that any residential building will be sealed for any movement if more than 5 people were diagnosed with the coronavirus, while for buildings with less than 5 patients of COVID-19, only floors which have positive COVID-19 patients will be sealed for movement.

According to BMC, over 90 per cent of the new cases in Mumbai, during the past two months, have been reported from the housing societies only. As of March 9, the BMC has sealed 2762 floors sealed with 4183 positive patients of coronavirus. The city has 21 containment zones and 214 sealed buildings.