Active case count down in Maharashtra, state monitors Covid situation

Even as Maharashtra’s active case count is reducing, experts and state public health department is monitoring the situation closely as they expect a spurt in infections by October first week, owing to the increased movement during the Dahi Handi and Ganeshotsav festivals.

Even as the state’s active case count is reducing, experts and state public health department is monitoring the situation closely as they expect a spurt in infections by October first week, owing to the increased movement during the Dahi Handi and Ganeshotsav festivals. However, officials from the health department said that so far there are no signs of the potential third wave of Covid-19 infections.

The active Covid caseload in Maharashtra dropped to 39,191, lowest in seven months. (HT PHOTO)

Maharashtra on Thursday added 3,320 fresh Covid-19 infections, taking it tally to 6,534,557. The state recorded 61 deaths due to the virus, pushing the toll to 138,725. Mumbai, meanwhile nearly logged 500 fresh cases on Thursday. It recorded 498 fresh infections and five fatalities. The active caseload in the state dropped to 39,191, lowest in seven months.

A senior bureaucrat said the state is monitoring as the numbers could see some increase owing to crowding in the past two weeks due to the festivals. Officials said that targeted testing during this period will help them pinpoint cases and arrest the transmission.

“Due to crowding during the celebrations, we expect some increase in cases. It is crucial to keep test numbers high in this period to locate infection and prevent it from spreading,” the bureaucrat said, requesting anonymity. He further said there are no indications of the potential third wave as of now.

Officials added that they are also focusing on speeding up the vaccination drive in the districts where the percentage of first dose and second doses are low. The vaccination drive will also help in the fight to prevent the third wave, officials said.

Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday directed officials to increase the pace of inoculation drives across the state, especially in districts where the numbers are lagging. In Nanded and Hingoli districts, the percentage of second doses is 12.24% and 11.28%, respectively, which is the lowest in the state. Similarly, the two districts have the lowest percentage in first doses – 35.20% (Nanded) and 38.08% (Hingoli).

A chunk of the cases came from Ahmednagar rural (577), while Ahmednagar city added 21 cases. Pune rural added 437 cases, while Pune city added 182 cases and Pimpri-Chinchwad added 125 new cases. Satara logged 219 new infections, and Solapur 196. Dhule rural, Dhule city, Jalgaon city, Hingoli district, Akola rural, Amravati rural, Bhandara, Gondia, Chandrapur, and Chandrapur city did not report any fresh cases on Thursday.

The daily positivity rate in the state has been around 2% in the last one week. On Thursday, the positivity rate was 1.95%. The state tested 170,373 samples in the past 24 hours.