Coronavirus deaths are down to zero in Maharashtra capital Mumbai for the first time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Maharashtra capital reported 367 new COVID cases and zero deaths on Saturday, according to Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai.

The city reported the first coronavirus positive case on March 11, 2020, followed by the first coronavirus death six days later on March 17. By June 2020, the city was recording COVID-19 fatalities in triple digits, with the 136 deaths reported reported on June 20. While coronavirus cases soared to new highs during the second wave, daily deaths have never crossed two digits in the city this year.

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Additional municipal commissioner Suresh Kakani told Times of India in August that the city’s fatality rate had been less than 1% through most of the second wave.

“The key is that people come to hospitals early,” he said.

Mumbai’s overall caseload stands at 7,50,808, while the death toll at 16,180. On Saturday, as many as as 518 persons recovered from coronavirus, taking number of active cases to 5,030.

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COVID-19 cases in Maharashtra have been declining since August, when an average of 5,123 cases were reported daily in August. The figure fell to 3,534 in September, and 2,450 in October as of October 16.

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But with all major COVID-19 curbs lifted in the state, health minister Rajesh Tope said authorities expect a surge in cases after Diwali. “We fear a surge or some spike will be seen after Diwali. We have opened up most facilities in the last two months and there is a strong possibility that a surge will follow,” the Times of India quoted Tope as saying.

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The state on Saturday reported 1,553 new positive cases and 26 fatalities while 1,682 patients recovered from the infection, the state health department said.