After a gap of 75 days, Maharashtra on Thursday reported more than 5,000 new COVID-19 cases, a sizable number of them coming from Akola and Nagpur divisions, a health department official said. With 5,427 new cases, the caseload in the state rose to 20,81,520 while 38 fatalities took the death toll due to the pandemic to 51,669, he said.

The state had reported 5,229 infections on December 4, which had been followed by a gradual drop in cases. The decline had prompted the state government to relax restrictions on movement and gatherings further, including the restrictions on travel by local trains in Mumbai.