A fourth of Maharashtra’s total fatalities have been recorded in August

The state has reported 5,043 deaths due to the viral infection between August 1 and August 16, which work out to 25.17% of the 20,037 fatalities so far.

Maharashtra’s coronavirus disease (Covid-19)-related toll in August to date is over 25% of the total fatalities in the country’s worst-affected state amid the mortalities crossing the 20,000 mark and are still climbing at an alarming pace.

Health workers during a door to door screening for coronavirus in a slum near Dandekar bridge in Pune, Maharashtra.(Pratham Gokhale/HT Photo)

The state has reported 5,043 deaths due to the viral infection between August 1 and August 16, which work out to 25.17% of the 20,037 fatalities so far.

In July, Maharashtra had reported 7,139 Covid-19 cases and 35.62% of deaths. The corresponding figure for June was 5,569 and 35.62%, respectively.

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Experts and state health department officials said Covid-19-related fatalities would rise in the coming days amid the spread of the contagion.

Dr. Shashank Joshi, who is a part of the 11-member task force, constituted by the state government for the clinical management of critical Covid-19 patients, attributed the spike to aggressive and ramped testing mechanisms across the state.

“Maharashtra’s viral caseload is at its peak, which will continue over the next few days before the situation stabilises. Mumbai’s case fatality rate (CFR) has come down significantly. The aim is to bring it down the CFR below 1% across Maharashtra,” Joshi said.

He exuded optimism that the viral infection curve is likely to flatten in the state by early September.

At present, Maharashtra’s CFR is 3.36% against the national figure of 1.93%

Dr. Avinash Bhondve, president of the Maharashtra chapter of Indian Medical Institute (IMI), also echoed Joshi.

“The CFR is high due to aggressive testing mechanisms. Besides, comorbidity leads to higher fatalities. Our healthcare infrastructure has drastically improved, as compared with the early days of the viral outbreak,” Bhondve said.

Maharashtra has reported 5,95,865 Covid-19 cases until Sunday evening.

The state has reported over 10,000 Covid-19 cases over the past 10 days, except for a day.

It is expected to cross 6,00,000 Covid-19 cases on Monday.

The last 100,000 Covid-19 cases are likely to have been reported in barely nine days after the state had breached the 5,00,000 mark on August 8. While 4,00,000 mark was reached on July 29 -- 10 days after it had reported 300,000 Covid-19 cases.