Pune: After a steep in spread of infection from past few days, Pune on Wednesday reported a slight dip in the number of COVID-19 cases as the district recorded 7,888 infections, according to the health department. Pune recorded a dip of 2,224 cases after the district reported 10,112 cases on Tuesday. The COVID-19 tally in the district reached 6,76,014 with the additional new cases on Wednesday. The district currently has 97,192 active cases of the novel coronavirus.

Of the total 7,888 cases on Wednesday, Pune city (Pune Municipal Corporation) reported 4,206 new cases followed by 1,517 in Pimpri Chinchwad (Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation). On the other side, rural Pune saw 1,667 COVID cases while Councils and Cantonment reported 415 and 83 cases respectively.

With 94 deaths on Wednesday, 46 people from Pune city lost their lives amid the contagion while 26 were from Pimpri Chinchwad. On the positive front, 10,578 people were successfully discharged from various hospitals in the district taking the total recoveries to 5,68,002. On Wednesday, 38,120 samples were tested of which 21,325 were conducted in Pune city.

The drop in the number of new cases in Pune can be credited to the enforcement of strict restrictions applied recently. Pune also witnessed a weekend lockdown where all establishments except those in essential sector were seen shut.

However, the medical facilities in the district are battling hard with the rise in spread of the infection. With lack of ventilator beds, shortage of anti-viral drug Remdesivir, Pune has also highlighted issues with medical oxygen supply.

The district is among the worst-affected by the contagion in Maharashtra and was accounting for 12 per cent of the total cases reported countrywide towards the start of this month. Pune is also one of the worst-affected urban regions in the world. It also has the highest number of active cases in India.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra has imposed lockdown style curfew in the entire state from Wednesday and will remain till May 1. PMC has also released its new set of guidelines under Maharashtra’s Break The Chain campaign where all establishments other than groceries, medical shops, dairies will remain shut to curtail the further spread of COVID-19.