As Covid cases rise abroad, Maharashtra to be on alert

In terms of regions, the biggest contributor to the global tally is Asia, accounting for nearly half (48%) of all new cases reported in the world in the past week.

Mumbai: Faced with a surge in cases across the world, the Maharashtra government has directed all the districts to be cautious and strictly follow the Covid-19 guidelines.

Scores of people celebrate Holi festival with colours at Juhu Beach, in Mumbai, India, on Friday. (Vijay Bate/HT Photo)

“In the past 24 hours, some countries have recorded highest ever new Covid cases since the beginning of the pandemic two years ago. Some new variant is suspected to be fuelling infections in Israel and other countries,” Dr Pradeep Vyas, additional chief secretary (health) wrote in a letter dated March 17, and addressed to municipal commissioners and district collectors.

Vyas said that authorities must ensure that people avoid crowding, follow strict masking and stay alert on influenza like illnesses. He also asked districts to speed up vaccination drives. The government was keeping a close watch on the rise in cases and will take necessary steps if needed, he stated.

Globally, the seven-day average of new cases, which was dropping since January 24 (when it hit an all-time high of 3.45 million new cases a day) bottomed out at 1.48 million cases (or a fall of 57%) a day for the week ending March 2, according to Our World in Data. Since then, this number has been rising for two straight weeks — for the week ended Wednesday, it was 1.75 million cases a day, up 18%.

In terms of regions, the biggest contributor to the global tally is Asia, accounting for nearly half (48%) of all new cases reported in the world in the past week. It is closely followed by Europe, which is currently responsible for 42% of all new infections being reported in the world. Australia and New Zealand are accounting for 3% of the cases despite having under 0.4% of the global population.

But a closer look at these statistics presents a clearer picture of what is transpiring. A majority of countries in Asia and Oceania, where infections numbers are seeing a near-vertical rise, are those that are only now seeing their first Omicron outbreak — a trend that was common in nearly all countries that saw surges caused by this variant in December-January. Among these are regions such as Hong Kong, South Korea, China, Vietnam, New Zealand and Australia — all nations that had hitherto been more successful than others in keeping the Omicron variant out of their borders.

The most concerning outcome of the wave is being witnessed in Hong Kong, which has earned the grim distinction of seeing the deadliest outbreak recorded in any country ever. In the week leading to Thursday, an average of 37.6 people lost their lives to every day for every million residents in the island state, the highest this number has every touched anywhere in the world.

“We have thrown caution into winds and are acting as if the pandemic is over. Many people have stopped wearing masks. Today it is China and Europe and this is definitely going to arrive in India, too,” said Dr Wiqar Shaikh, professor of medicine, Grant Medical College and Sir JJ Hospital.

Maharashtra witnessed its third wave, driven by largely by the Omicron variant, between the third week of December 2021 and January 2022; the maximum number of cases were reported on January 12 this year with 46,723 cases. That day, the test positivity rate (number of positive cases per 100 tests) in the state was 21.87%. The Mumbai peak, however, was on January 7, when the daily caseload touched 20,971, which was 51.24% of the entire state’s total of 40,925 cases. Mumbai’s test positivity rate also peaked on the same day with 29.77%. Since then, the number of cases has steadily been declining.

On Friday, Maharashtra recorded 171 new cases with three deaths. The state reported a positivity rate of 0.37% as 171 new cases were recorded of the total 45,201 tests. The total number of Covid-19 affected persons in the state since the start of the outbreak now stands at 7,872,203. Mumbai recorded 48 new cases with zero deaths with its death toll reaching 16,693. At present, the state has 1,680 active patients of which Pune tops with 622 followed by Mumbai and Thane with 317 and 168 patients, respectively. The death toll has now reached 143,765 with Pune leading with 20,163 deaths followed by Mumbai with 16,693 and Thane with 11,869 deaths.