3,277 new cases take Maharashtra’s Covid-19 tally to 1,723,135

Maharashtra reported 3,277 Covid-19 cases on Monday, taking the state’s tally to 1,723,135. Owing to technical glitches on the Centre’s Covid-19 portal, data related

Maharashtra reported 3,277 Covid-19 cases on Monday, taking the state’s tally to 1,723,135. Owing to technical glitches on the Centre’s Covid-19 portal, data related to fatalities and fresh recoveries could not be added on Monday, said state health department officials.

“Daily discharged cases and deaths of the state are updated as per the central government’s covid portal (https://covid19.nhp.gov.in) but due to technical reasons, the Covid portal was not functioning. Therefore, the daily figures of discharged cases and deaths are not available,” the state health department’s bulletin stated.

“As today the Covid-19 portal is not functional and patients are admitted in more than 1,500 hospitals in the state, it is difficult to compile information of discharged and death cases manually,” it added.

The state, however, added 85 fatalities, including 20 deaths from Mumbai in the previous 24 hours and 65 from the reconciliation data, taking the toll to 45,325.

Meanwhile, Mumbai reported 599 fresh cases on Monday, pushing its tally to 265,144. The city’s fatalities surged to 10,465 after 20 deaths were recorded on Monday. Meanwhile, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) collectively recorded 495 fresh cases.

Pune district witnessed a decline in daily cases and reported 165 infections on Monday, while Pune rural and Pimpri-Chinchwad reported 177 and 68 fresh cases, respectively. Nagpur city reported 233 new cases on Monday, even as Satara district, Solapur rural and other cities and districts reported cases in double digits on Monday.

Until Monday, Maharashtra had tested 9,482,940 samples and the state’s positivity rate stands at 18.17%. In the past 24 hours, the state tested 42,405 samples, of which 3,277 (7.72%) were found positive for the virus.

The infection rate in the state has seen decline over the past few weeks. In the first eight days of November, the positivity rate in the state has consistently remained under 10%.

So far, the state’s positivity rate for November has averaged at 8.35%, which means for every 100 samples tested, eight were found to be positive. The ratio was around 15% in October and 24% in September. In November, the state has on an average tested 59,141 samples of which 4,889 were found positive, according to the state health department data.

However, there are concerns that the declining Covid-19 curve could see a reversal after Diwali (November 14). Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray in his address to the state on Sunday said that the fortnight after Diwali will be crucial and the “real test”.

He also warned citizens not to lower their guard, as the second wave could prove to be a ‘tsunami’. The CM has appealed to citizens to follow the basic Covid-19 protocol – social distancing, wearing masks and washing hands – to keep the spread of the virus at bay. Thackeray said that lax behaviour during the festive season and the onset of winter could reverse the declining Covid-19 curve.

Health department officials said that they have directed the district administration to increase surveillance. Officials said that the ratio of tracing immediate contacts of positive patients is not as per expectations.

“People will have to maintain Covid-appropriate behaviour while moving out. Wearing masks, maintaining sanitisation and physical distancing are the only solution. Besides that, the department has asked for stricter surveillance and tracing-tracking. There is a sense of fatigue among healthcare workers involved in the Covid-19 fight. We have to trace 15 people at least on finding one positive case,” said an official from the health department.

Public health expert Dr Sanjay Pattiwar echoed that tracing and surveillance will remain crucial to keep the potential second wave of Covid-19 at bay.

“People are roaming around as if the pandemic is gone, but the threat still exists. If there is fatigue among healthcare workers, then there should be a reserve force like in armies. The state should rope in teaching staffs and clerks for surveillance, which is non-technical. Besides that the state must also ramp up testing,” Pattiwar said.