Even as the demand for further relaxations across the state grows, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has decided to seek the Covid Task Force’s opinion at a meeting on Thursday and then decide on the further course of action.

On Wednesday, the cabinet was shown a weekly presentation on the pandemic. Between July 1 and July 27, the average death rate was 1.24 per cent. As on July 27, the state had 88,729 cases, of which 39 per cent were being treated in hospitals, with 14.27 per cent in a serious condition. The situation in western Maharashtra’s Sangli, Kolhapur and Satara, which have been battered by heavy rains, is still far from satisfactory. Flood-affected Ratnagiri also has a high number of active cases.