Maharashtra sees 35,952 cases; first state to administer over 5 million doses

Maharashtra on Thursday recorded more than 30,000 Covid-19 cases for a second day in a row, after it recorded 35,952 new infections, its highest one-day spike

Maharashtra on Thursday recorded more than 30,000 Covid-19 cases for a second day in a row, after it recorded 35,952 new infections, its highest one-day spike. The state also recorded more than 100 deaths with 111 more Covid-19 fatalities. In the past seven days, the state has recorded 657 deaths owing to the infection.

(Satish Bate/HT Photo)

Mumbai also recorded an all-time high of 5,505 new cases. It also recorded 13 deaths. Maharashtra became the first state in the country to administer more than 5 million doses since the nationwide vaccination drive was rolled out on January 16.

The state government, on Thursday, said that drive will be scaled up further in the coming days. According to data released by the Maharashtra public health department, as of Thursday, 7 am, Maharashtra has administered 5,014,7714 doses, followed by Rajasthan (4,994,574), Uttar Pradesh (4,756,799), Gujarat (4,381,814), and West Bengal (4,250,140).

Dr Pradeep Vyas, principal secretary, the public health department of the state government, said, “Maharashtra is at the top of the country in the number of Covid vaccine doses administered. We are also the first state to cross the 5-million doses benchmark. We will further scale up the vaccination.” On Thursday, 270,937 citizens were administered the vaccine across 3,302 centres, the state government said. N Ramaswami, commissioner, National Health Commission, also said the state is looking at completing the first three phases — vaccination for healthcare workers, frontline workers, those above 60 years of age, and those above 45 with comorbidities by May. Ramaswami said, “We have more than 3,000 centres in the state. We have sent a proposal to the government to add 146 more centres. We will also look at scaling up the number of people getting vaccinated in each centre.”

He also said the state is in the process of estimating the number of people above 45, who will be eligible for the dose starting April 1. The state’s tally is now at 2,600,833 cases and 35,952 deaths since the pandemic began. The state has 262,685 active cases. According to a presentation made to the state cabinet on Wednesday, active cases in the state have increased in 35 districts since February 11, with Sindhudurg being the only exception. The state’s doubling rate has gone down to 63 days as on March 23, from 566 days in the end of January 2021 and 194 days in end of February.

Dr Shashank Joshi, a member of the state-appointed task force, said, “Maharashtra will see a huge spike and record number of cases as the number of tests have increased.” The public health department has projected that Maharashtra would see 300,000 active cases by April 4 going by the surge of Covid-19 cases. It wanted to beef up the hospital infrastructure and ensure beds are available to those who need it. It warned that the death count on April 4 can reach 64,613 from 53,796 today.

It also warned that steps to be taken to ensure social distancing in vaccination centres or else it could be places of super spreaders. While the state has a recovery rate of 87.78%, its case fatality rate is around 2.07%. On Thursday, the Mumbai circle reported the highest number of cases with 10,062 cases followed by Pune circle, which reported 7,391 cases. The state government, on Thursday, also issued a notification asking people to celebrate the upcoming festival Holi in a very simple manner. While the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has banned celebrations in Mumbai, the state, in its guidelines, has said that no major events should be organised for the festival.