Maharashtra sees 15K new Covid cases in a day, after 162 days

Mumbai, meanwhile, reported 1,647 fresh cases, highest in four-and-a-half months, since 1,609 cases were reported on October 21

After a gap of 162 days, Maharashtra on Friday breached the 15,000-mark of new Covid infections in a day, recording 15,817 cases, pushing the count to 2,282,191. On October 1, the state had recorded 16,476 cases. The active cases have increased to 110,485 – 4.84% of the total cases. The toll reached 52,773, with 56 casualties.

(Vijay Bhate/HT)

Mumbai, meanwhile, reported 1,647 fresh cases, highest in four-and-a-half months, since 1,609 cases were reported on October 21. The total number of cases in the city stands at 340,290. There are 11,083 active cases in the city. Mumbai also reported four deaths on Friday due to Covid-19, taking the toll to 11,523. The case fatality rate in Mumbai is 3.3%, and the recovery rate is 93%. The overall growth rate of cases in the city is 0.35%, and the doubling rate has gone down to 194 days, from 205 days on Thursday.

Of the 56 deaths, 32 occurred in the last 48 hours and eight in the last week. The rest 16 deaths are from the period before last week, health officials said.

The rise in Covid-19 cases started from February 10, forcing the state to impose a complete lockdown or partial curbs in several districts and cities of the state. On Friday, a two-day lockdown was announced in Parbhani. It will be imposed from 12am on Friday midnight till Monday, 6am. It reported 80 cases on Friday and cumulative figures reached 9,194 cases. Dhule, too, has imposed a four-day janata curfew from March 14 to 17, during which, except essential services, all other establishments will remain closed. The local administration has also barred weekly markets till the end of the month.

Chief secretary Sitaram Kunte on Friday directed the local administration to improve contact tracing in areas where the number of cases is high. He ordered strict implementation of preventive measures for containment zones to arrest transmission and take action against all those found violating the rules.

To review the spike, the chief secretary called a meeting with divisional commissioners, district collectors, municipal commissioners and chief executive officers of all districts and cities on Friday. “The preventive measures need to be implemented more effectively in districts where the positivity rate is high. Contact tracing should be increased along with daily testing numbers,” chief secretary said in the meet.

“The local administration should immediately start implementation of preventive measures in containment zones. In urban areas, corporation and police officials should coordinate to ensure Covid-19 appropriate behaviour is followed by the people and ensure action against offenders. Fine people for not wearing masks. Also, ensure strict and regular monitoring of home isolated patients,” he directed.

Kunte also asked them to vaccinate more people from areas with a high positivity rate. The state government will also try to provide more stock of vaccines, he said.

Dr Tatyarao Lahane, director, Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER), said the cases will come down only when people start following Covid protocols seriously. “Unless people follow norms and avoid crowding, the situation won’t come under control,” he said.

Dr Lahane said the spike in cases is limited to eight districts, including Mumbai, and thus it would not be appropriate to call the rise a “second wave”. “Maharashtra has 36 districts whereas the cases are rising only in Mumbai, Pune, Nashik, Nagpur, Jalgaon, Amravati, Yavatmal and Akola. We cannot call it “second wave” unless the rise is spread to more districts,” he clarified.

With 9,410 cases, the combined tally of the eight cities and districts which comes to 59.49% of the total cases reported on Friday.

Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray already indicated the need to bring in lockdown restrictions in some areas to arrest the spread. On Thursday, he also said the decision will be taken in the next two days.

With 1,845 cases, Pune city recorded the highest number of cases across the state. The combined tally of the city and district went up to 2,423 in a day. Nagpur city reported 1,729 cases, second highest after Pune. The combined tally of the city and district comes to 2,067 cases.

Maharashtra covered 2,434,966 beneficiaries through its vaccination drive after 80,705 people were inoculated on Thursday. Of them, 72,100 were given the first shot of vaccine and 8,605 were administered second shots who have completed a mandatory gap of 28 days. The figures also include 62,781 beneficiaries who are general public. Of them, 51,775 are citizens above 60 years of age and the remaining 11,006 are aged 45 years and above with comorbidities.

Around 12 districts didn’t conduct vaccination drives owing to Mahashivratri following which the daily number of those immunized was much less than the previous day, the officials said.

Starting from January 16, the state has covered the first shot of 804,099 healthcare workers (HCWs) and second shot of 309,222 HCWs. It has completed the first shot of 475,478 frontline workers (FLWs) and second shot of 30,695 FLWs. Similarly, It has also completed the first shot of 119,515 beneficiaries from 45 to 60 years with comorbidities and first shot of 695,957 of beneficiaries of 60 years and more till date, according to a release issued by the state health department on Saturday.