Pune: As the second wave of novel coronavirus infections engulfs Pune, the district recorded a new high with 8,553 fres cases on Wednesday. Also, 31 deaths were recorded in the district, amid the infection.

The district’s progressive count on Wednesday stood at 5.36 lakh, out of which 4.63 lakh have recovered while 64,277 are active cases or patients are receiving treatment at hospitals or are in home isolation.

Pune is now contributing almost 20 per cent of all cases in Maharashtra. On Wednesday, Maharashtra recorded 39,544 positive infections. The state’s active case count now exceeds 3.5 lakh.

Of the total cases in the district, Pune city (Pune Municipal Corporation) alone contributed 4,502 cases followed by 2,288 new cases in Pimpri Chinchwad (Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation). Pune district also recorded 56 COVID deaths on Wednesday. With this, the total number of deaths so far in the district now stands at 9,974. There are more than 64,000 active cases in the district, the highest for any city in India currently. Of these, about 16,000 patients are in hospital, while the remaining are in home isolation.

Amid the rising cases of a novel coronavirus, Punekars now are fearing the lockdown. For the past few days, the city is witnessing a sudden surge in the spread of infection. With certain restrictions already enforced in the district, traders in the city have also opposed imposing a new lockdown as it will hamper the businesses completely.

Last week, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar who is also the Guardian Minister of Pune cautioned that the decision about the lockdown will be taken on April 2. Ajit Pawar last week chaired a weekly review meeting on Friday to take the stock of the COVID-19 situation in Pune. "I appeal to all people of Pune to follow all COVID-19 norms. The decision on the lockdown will be taken on April 2, said Ajit Pawar.