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Mumbai death toll crosses 1k
Mumbai
Mumbai
Maharashtra on Monday recorded 2,436 new Covid-19 cases, taking its tally to 52,667. The state witnessed 60 fatalities, pushing up the toll to 1,695. With 38 of these recorded in Mumbai, the city crossed the 1,000 deaths-mark. While Mumbai’s Covid-19 toll rose to 1,026, the number of cases in Mumbai increased by 1,430 to 31,972.
In other parts of the state, Pune recorded 244 fresh cases, while Thane 149 new cases on Monday, taking their virus count up to 5,319 and 2,739 respectively.
Maharashtra, which is the worst-hit state in the country, has witnessed a surge in Covid-19 cases, with more than 20,000 infections reported over the past nine days alone. The state government is expecting cases to rise further in the next fortnight, especially in Mumbai and Pune, said state health department officials, adding that the government has already started strengthening its health infrastructure and adding new beds.
Mumbai, which accounts for 60% of the state’s coronavirus cases, is already staring at a shortage of hospital beds and intensive care unit (ICU) facilities.
The Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) on Monday outlined the plan to increase beds in Mumbai by creating “jumbo facilities”. The CMO said a centralised dashboard has been created to track the availability of beds and its location in real-time. With increased capacity and real-time tracking of beds, patients will not have to spend crucial hours waiting for availability of beds.
Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, in his address to the state on Sunday, said the government is anticipating a spike in cases by month-end. As a part of their preparations for the surge in Mumbai, a field hospital at Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) with 1,000 beds, including 200 ICU beds, has been readied in a fortnight. Additionally, a Covid Care Centre (CCC) with 600 beds at Mahalaxmi Racecourse, which will have 125 ICU beds, is being erected for patients with mild infections. Nesco Exhibition Centre in Goregaon will have 535 beds.
“In the next two weeks, Dedicated Covid Hospital Centre (DCHC) and Dedicated Covid Hospital (DCH) collectively with 7,000 beds will come up at Dahisar, Mulund, Mahalaxmi Racecourse, and Goregaon,” a note from the CMO said.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is acquiring hospitals with 100 beds and 20 ICUs in each ward to tackle the rise in cases.
Similarly, hospitals are being acquired in Thane city. Thane guardian minister Eknath Shinde has asked to augment bed capacity at the Thane district hospital too. As many as 150 beds will be added at the hospital.
Meanwhile, according to the state health department, of the 60 deaths recorded on Monday, 54 were in the past 48 hours, while the remaining six are from last week. The fatalities are of 42 men and 18 women. Twenty-seven of those who succumbed to the infection were over 60 years, while 29 were in the 40 to 59 age group, and three were under 40 years. According to the health department, 78%, or 47 patients, had high-risk co-morbidities such as diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease, among others.
