E-Paper
Covid-19 surge: Maharashtra may witness peak by mid-July
80% of the cases will continue to be asymptomatic or with mild symptoms, according to senior health department officials
PUNE Maharashtra’s Covid graph may peak around mid-July although over 80% of the cases will continue to be asymptomatic or with mild symptoms, according to senior health department officials.
Dr Nitin Ambadekar, who is the state joint director of health services (procurement cell and hospitals) and now has additional charge as director of health services, said 81% of the current cases in the ongoing surge are asymptomatic. Most of the cases are currently being reported from Mumbai, Pune, Thane, Palghat and Raigad districts although other parts of Maharashtra may see a spike in the coming days. “The spike in cases is restricted to certain districts in Maharashtra. The rise is seen in Mumbai, Thane, Pune, Palghar and Raigad districts. Despite the spike in cases, the percentage of hospitalisation is 2 to 3%,” state health minister Rajesh Tope had said earlier this week.
According to the state health department, on Tuesday, 3,659 new cases and one Covid-19 death were reported in the state. The case fatality rate in the state is 1.86%. Pune district reported 430 new cases on Tuesday. The active cases in Pune have increased to 2,113. “We can see the surge in cases will reach its peak by mid-July. But most cases are likely to be mild. At present, there are 81% cases which are completely asymptomatic. And the rest have mild symptoms. But the hospitalisation rate is very low. It is likely to continue that way as immunisation is good,” said Dr Ambadekar. He added that the impact of rising cases may not be much as there is immunisation although the peak during the current wave will be as high as the previous one. As Covid cases see a steady rise in Maharashtra and in Pune district, the health machinery is already on alert.
“Our Covid care centres are on alert and health officials are closely monitoring the situation. With higher emphasis on immunisation against Covid and better health infrastructure, it is likely that even if the number of cases increases, we will be able to manage the situation better,” said Dr Ambadekar. He added that labs and hospitals have been instructed to start collecting RT PCR samples for genome sequencing. “We have increased the collection of samples from various labs to ramp up genome sequencing. We are expecting that from the next week, we will get reports of the same,” said Dr Ambadekar. He added that present analysis of the samples shows that the prevalence of BA.2 is the most prominent variant followed by BA.2.38. “In the present samples, we have seen 15% samples that are delta variant cases. There is the prevalence of BA.2 followed by BA.2.38. There are a few cases of BA.4 and BA.5,” said Dr Ambadekar. He added that the vaccination campaign is reaching many beneficiaries who have completed their vaccination as of yet. “With the new surge in cases, the health department is aiming to reach many beneficiaries to ensure that their vaccination is completed,” said Dr Ambadekar.
