Covid-19: Steady decline in cases in Maharashtra, trend could reverse in festive season

On Monday, Maharashtra reported its lowest spike in 90 days with 7,089 new infections pushing the state’s tally to 1,535,315

Maharashtra is witnessing a steady decline in the number of new Covid-19 cases for over a month now. But with festive season approaching, the state health department officials say the trend could reverse if people do not follow safety measures during celebrations.

Healthcare workers take swab samples for Covid-19 test at Goregaon in Mumbai, on October 12. (Satyabrata Tripathy/HT Photo)

On Monday, Maharashtra reported its lowest spike in 90 days with 7,089 new infections pushing the state’s tally to 1,535,315. The state had recorded 6,741 cases on July 14.

In Maharashtra, the daily cases peaked at 24,886 on September 11. Since the second week of September, the state has seen a decline in the daily caseload. The seven-day average of daily cases in Maharashtra touched 21,996 between September 8 and September 14, the highest so far. In the four weeks since, the average number of cases dropped and stood at 11,666 on Monday— down by 46% from the peak in September.

In October, so far, the average rate of samples testing positive has been 17.09%, which has brought the state’s overall positivity rate further under 20%.

Since October 1, the daily rate of samples testing positive has decreased from 18.25% to 14.47% on October 11. In the last 24 hours, 54,322 samples were tested, of which 7,089 tested positive, which is a positivity rate of 13.04%.

State health department officials warned that the curve may rise again with the festive season coming. Officials said that people will have to maintain discipline in celebrations during Navratri, Dussehra and Diwali in the coming days as lowering the guard could shoot up the Covid-19 cases.

“We have already witnessed what happens with increased movement of people; cases increased between June and September. We are seeing some decline in the number of cases over the last fortnight. The recovery rate has gone over 80%. People should be disciplined and maintain physical distancing and wear masks. Or else there could be some increase in new cases after the festive period,” a senior health department official said requesting anonymity.