Maharashtra records 8,535 Covid cases; 8 districts keep caseload high

Kolhapur, Satara, Palghar, Raigad, Sindhudurg, Ratnagiri, Pune (rural) and Sangli — continued to record a high number of cases and have also reported a high testing positivity rate

Maharashtra on Sunday recorded 8,535 Covid-19 cases and 156 deaths due to the infection. While most parts of the state have reported a decline in the number of cases, eight districts — Kolhapur, Satara, Palghar, Raigad, Sindhudurg, Ratnagiri, Pune (rural) and Sangli — continued to record a high number of cases and have also reported a high testing positivity rate. The district administrations have been directed to go for aggressive testing and screening to contain the infection and the test positivity rate. Test positivity rate is the proportion of tests reporting positive out of the total tests conducted for a particular infection.

A BMC health worker collects swab samples for Covid-19 test of passengers arriving from outstation trains at Dadar station in Mumbai on July 2. (HT file)

The large number of cases in eight districts has kept the daily caseload in the state hovering at 8,000-9,000 for the past month. On Sunday, Kolhapur recorded 1,468 new cases, while Sangli saw the addition of 1,097 new Covid-19 patients. Satara and Ratnagiri recorded 755 and 455 new cases, respectively. Pune with its rural areas and Pimpri-Chinchwad saw 1,072 new cases on Sunday.

The eight most affected districts have the highest number of active cases. Kolhapur has 19,034 active cases, Sangli has 11,717, Satara 8,505, Kolhapur 13,157, while Ratnagiri has 3,569 active infections.

All these districts have a high case fatality rate (CFR), above the state rate of 2.04% .Kolhapur is at top with 2.9%. Sangli (2.7%), Solapur (2.6%), Satara (2.4%), Sindhudurg (2.4%). Case fatality rate is the number of cases leading to deaths out of the total number of reported cases of a particular infection.

According to state surveillance officer Dr Pradeep Awate, the administration has taken a twin approach. “We are identifying the hotspots in these districts, say some particular area and mass testing the population there. We are isolating the positive patients from the rest of the population to stop the transmission,” said Dr Awate