70% of active Covid cases since Sept 5 are coming from five districts of Maharashtra

Five districts have added nearly 70% of the state’s active cases between Sept 5 and 14, and the weekly positivity rate from eight districts is higher than Maharashtra’s average.

Even as Maharashtra sees an overall downward trend in daily Covid-19 infections, five districts have added nearly 70% of the state’s active cases between September 5 and 14, and the weekly positivity rate from eight districts is higher than the state’s average. Maharashtra on Thursday added 3,595 fresh Covid-19 infections, taking its tally to 6,511,525. The state added 45 fatalities, pushing its death toll to 138,322. Case fatality rate in the state was 2.12%.

The active cases in Maharashtra were 49,342. The active case load went up by 308 on Thursday. (Anshuman Poyrekar/HT PHOTO)

Mumbai added 446 fresh cases, taking its tally to 736,728. It also reported two fatalities, pushing the death toll to 16,039. City’s active case count stood at 5,589, up from 5,488 on Wednesday.

The active cases in the state were 49,342. The active case load went up by 308 on Thursday. The state also saw 3,240 discharges in the last 24 hours. In the last 24 hours, the state tested 168,793 samples and the daily positivity rate was 2.13%. So far, the state has tested 56,529,882 samples and the overall positivity rate was 11.52%.

On Thursday, of the 3,595 cases reported, 2,668 infections or 74.21% of cases came from Mumbai, Ahmednagar, Pune, Solapur, Satara, Sangli districts. Ahmednagar reported 618 new cases, while Pune added 898 fresh infections. Solapur logged 241 new cases, while Satara added 236 fresh infections. Sangli district added 229 new cases.

As per the data of the state public health department, between September 5 and 14, five districts — Pune, Ahmednagar, Mumbai, Satara and Solapur — have added 69% of the active cases or 25,776 cases. While the remaining 30 districts have contributed 31% of the active cases (11,320) during the same period. Pune added 8,062, while Ahmednagar added 7,484, followed by Mumbai (4,087), Satara (3,439) and Solapur (2,704),

Eight districts — Pune, Ahmednagar, Sangli, Nashik, Satara, Osmanabad, Palghar and Sindhudurg — have a higher weekly positivity rate than the state’s overall average of 2.63%. While Pune and Ahmednagar districts’ weekly positivity rates were 5.82% and 5.52%, the remaining districts had the weekly ratio between 3.88% and 3.02%, the data from the health department showed.

State surveillance officer Dr Pradeep Awate said the overall Covid-19 situation is under control. “Overall, there is a downward trend. Some districts have a high weekly positivity rate, but that is also reducing week-on-week. It is not so that their positivity is increasing, it is higher than the state’s average,” he said.

However, Ahmednagar’s weekly positivity rate is on an upward trajectory. The data showed that its positivity rate was 4.70% between August 18 and 24. Subsequently, it rose to 4.85% between August 25 and 31. It breached the 5% mark in the subsequent week at 5.35%.

Ahmednagar, along with four other districts, have been designated as districts to keep a watch on by the state health department. The four districts include Pune, Sangli, Nashik and Satara. Nashik district’s weekly positivity saw a jump. Between August 25 and 31, it was 2.52%, which climbed to 3.34% between September 1 and 7. Between September 8 and 14, it was 3.76%.

A state health department official, who did not wish to be named, said, “We carry out weekly review of the Covid-19 situation. We are not just looking at these five districts, but also other districts as the spurt can happen from any location. Weekly monitoring will give us time to act. With activities opened up across states, coupled with festival season, there is a fear of increase in viral activity. However, whenever the possible third wave come, we are prepared for it.”