Active Covid-19 infections in Maharashtra drop under 100,000 for the 1st time since July 11

Although the Covid-19 curve in the state has been on the descending limb, chief minister Uddhav Thackeray in a meeting on Saturday asked local authorities to be prepared for a second wave.

Maharashtra on Saturday recorded 3,959 Covid-19 infections, pushing the case count to 1,714,273. For the first time since July 11, the tally of active cases in the state fell under 100,000. The number of active cases stood at 99,151.

A woman walks past a graffiti of a girl wearing a protective mask amidst the spread of the coronavirus disease in Mumbai. (REUTERS)

The trend of fewer daily cases over the past few weeks has led to a constant decline in active infections. In the past 51 days, the state experienced a drop of more than 200,000 active cases. On September 17, its active cases tally was 3,01,752, the highest till date. However, there has been a decline since then and on September 30, the tally fell to 259,033 and on October 31, it further came down to 123,585, revealed official figures.

Fewer active cases indicate that the epidemic is in control.

Public health expert Sanjay Pattiwar said that cases have been reducing, but the state will have to be cautious and ensure that cases will not increase by November-end. “Decline in cases is a fact, but we have to wait till November-end as festivals are going on and winter has arrived. Plus, most lockdown restrictions have been lifted. We have to increase testing and contact tracing and if cases don’t rise till November-end then we can say that the state has successfully controlled the pandemic,” Pattiwar said.

Although the Covid-19 curve in the state has been on the descending limb, chief minister Uddhav Thackeray in a meeting on Saturday asked local authorities to be prepared for a second wave. He said that the next 15 days post Diwali would be crucial as there is a concern over a rise in cases owing to winter and ongoing festivals. He also directed testing potential super-spreaders, who have a lot of interaction with various groups of people, such as milkmen, maids, vegetable vendors and people working in public transport.

“We can see that the infection rate and death rate are coming down, however, we cannot remain inattentive. We have to be prepared for a second wave like it is going on in European countries,” the chief minister said in a review meeting of divisional commissioners and district collectors to look at measures to be taken to prevent a potential second wave.

“I have said this in March that it is a world war and we have been fighting it and are close to win it without “arms”. We are relaxing restrictions in a graded manner. We have taken all precautions to prevent spread of seasonal diseases during summer and monsoon, but winter has arrived, which is likely to bring other respiratory diseases such as pneumonia, asthma, flu and heart diseases, apart from rise in Covid-19,” Thackeray said.

The chief minister also asked local authorities not to discontinue or dismantle temporary Covid treatment facilities such as field hospitals as of now. He said, “Do not remove field hospitals or Covid Care Centers developed for Covid-19 treatment. In fact, remove any lacunae, if any, as we have got some time. We also need to keep a track of people with comorbidities. This will help in avoiding big trouble even if a second wave hits the state.”

Mumbai reported its lowest daily Covid-19 surge in almost six months on Saturday when 576 new cases were reported, followed by 23 deaths. Before this, the lowest surge was 426 cases on May 12 and 587 cases on August 25. The daily positivity rate, too, on Saturday was under 6%. Since almost ten days, the daily positivity rate is below 10%.

As of Saturday, Mumbai had 263,049 Covid-19 cases, with 10,422 deaths. The city’s mortality rate is 3.96% and the recovery rate is 89.48% as 2,35,3850 patients have recovered till now. Mumbai has 16,528 active cases.

Meanwhile, the state toll breached the 45,000 mark as 150 casualties were reported, taking it to 45,115. Of them, 70 were reported in the past 48 hours, 47 from last week and the rest 33 were from the period before that, health officials said.

Along with a trend of fewer Covid-19 cases, the state has recorded a drop in Covid-19 deaths. But its case fatality rate (CFR) is not coming down. It has maintained second position after Punjab in the country with 2.63%. The CFR of Punjab was 3.15% (with 4,295 deaths) till Friday, according to information shared by the state medical education department.

In another meeting with senior officials of BMC, the chief minister directed them to take strict action against those not wearing masks. “We need to be more careful now. Take strict against those found not wearing mask. The initiative started against these offenders should be implemented aggressively. Apart from this, there should be a focus on creating public awareness to make people understand why masks are necessary,” he said.

Convince people that if the pollution level doesn’t come down, the danger of coronavirus will be persist, he added. The state government has already urged people not to use firecrackers this Diwali to ensure pollution level will not rise as it may lead to respiratory issues.

(With inputs from Mehul Thakkar)