Maharashtra Covid cases on decline; positivity rate drops to 3.8%

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the positivity rate should remain below 5% for an outbreak to be considered under control

Maharashtra’s weekly positivity rate has dropped to 3.8% from last week’s 4.36%, indicating a downward trend of the second Covid-19 wave.

Healthcare worker collects swab samples for Covid-19 test of passengers arriving on outstation trains at Dadar station, in Mumbai. (HT file)

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the positivity rate should remain below 5% for an outbreak to be considered under control. Positivity rate is the percentage of tests of a particular infection returning positive.

The state currently has 10 districts with positivity rates above the state average of 3.8%. These are Satara (8.03%), Pune (7.23%), Kolhapur (7.18%), Sangli (6.91%), Sindhudurg (6.49 %), Solapur (5.90%), Ahmednagar (4.95%), Beed (4.88%), Raigad (4.70%), and Ratnagiri (3.83%). This means currently just six out of the 10 districts have a positivity rate of more than 5%. Last week, nine of the 10 districts had a positivity rate of more than 5%.

Meanwhile, the state on Wednesday recorded 6,857 new cases with 286 deaths. The state’s Covid tally has reached 6,282,914, while the death toll stands at 132,145.

There were 193,042 tests done on Wednesday and the number of recoveries clocked 6,105. There are currently 82,545 active cases across the state, of which Pune tops with 15,768 followed by Thane with 9,587. Mumbai recorded 403 new cases and 10 deaths, thus bringing its toll to 15,860.