Highest single-day spike of 811 cases takes Maha tally to 7,628

Eight hundred and eleven coronavirus cases were on Saturday reported across Maharashtra — the highest single-day spike since the first case on March 9— taking the

Eight hundred and eleven coronavirus cases were on Saturday reported across Maharashtra — the highest single-day spike since the first case on March 9— taking the number of infected people in the state to 7,628. The state’s capital, Mumbai, also registered its grimmest figures with 602 new infections, increasing the case count to 5,049.

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The state’s coronavirus disease (Covid-19) toll rose to 323 with 22 deaths, 13 of them in Mumbai. The city’s toll is now 191. Eleven people who died were above 60 years of age, while eight were in the 40-59 years age group. Three were below the age of 40 years.

On Friday, there were 394 fresh cases, a significant dip from the then highest one-day rise of 778 on Thursday and 552 and 431 cases on the two previous days. With the fluctuating trend in Covid-19 cases and a drop in the mortality rate by around four percentage points over the past few days, state authorities are expecting the doubling rate of cases to improve and fatality rate to drop further in the next few weeks. State officials opined that the situation seemed to be in their control, but they would observe the trends for a few days before reaching any conclusion on whether the worst is over for Maharashtra. They also pointed out that the new cases are coming from identified contacts of patients and as such, community transmission (in which the source of infection is not known) doesn’t seem to be the cause of increase in Covid-19 cases.

As a precautionary measure, the state government has decided not to allow shops of non-essential services to operate although a notification issued by the Centre on Friday has permitted their operations. The state government will continue the ongoing lockdown till May 3. State health minister Rajesh Tope, contrary to his earlier statement, said on Saturday evening that no decision on extending the lockdown in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) and Pune has been taken yet.

Dr Avinash Supe, head of a committee appointed to advise the state government on management protocol for serious Covid-19 patients, said that the mortality rate has dropped satisfactorily, but the graph of fresh cases will have to be observed for the next two weeks.

“The doubling rate has reduced to over seven days, when many other countries are still lingering at 3.5. Similarly, our mortality rate has dropped to 4.4 from 8 in the state and 4% in Mumbai. If we maintain this trend of doubling it would help us in containing the spread. We have been urging elderly persons to not undermine warning signs and get required tests done to avoid further complications. This would help us keep the mortality rate in check,” he said.

Supe said that unless the trend of cases is reviewed for at least two weeks, it would be difficult to comment about the curve. Dr Sadhana Tayade , of Directorate of Health Services, said that the mortality rate is expected to fall further in Maharashtra. “We have been strictly monitoring the containment zones and have been following protocols strictly. There is the Central government’s prediction of rise in cases by May-end and we are prepared for it. The rise is also because of the rise in testing,” she said.

Tope said that the World Health Organization (WHO) and Central government have been continuously reviewing the situation in the state and they have endorsed our claim that community spread has not begun in Maharashtra. “We have been concentrating on slums and congested areas than buildings and individual apartments for the effective containment of the spread. As directed by the Central teams that visited Mumbai and Pune, we are concentrating on containment in areas like Dharavi and the hygiene in these areas. We have successfully brought the mortality rate down and improved doubling rate to more than 7 days from the earlier rate of 3.5,” he said .

Tope said that though the ICMR protocol mandates for the tests on those showing some symptoms, the state government has been doing testing of asymptomatic contacts too. “We have been aggressively doing testing and quarantining contacts of patients. Now, the relatives of patients in areas like Dharavi will be administered with hydroxychloroquine,” he said.

The health minister has, however, clarified that the state government is unlikely to extend the relaxations to the shops from lockdown, following the notification issued by the Centre. “The Centre has issued the notification, allowing stand-alone shops in rural and urban areas, but in the absence of a similar notification in Maharashtra, it could not come into effect” he said.

Tope had earlier said that after the second phase of the lockdown ending on May 3, it may be extended by two weeks till May 18 for MMR and Pune, the most affected regions in the state. On Saturday evening, Tope said, “The decision about the extension in MMR and Pune is yet to be taken. The activities within the district with the tag of green zones can be allowed through,” he said.

According to officials from the state government, chief minister Uddhav Thackeray is of the opinion that lifting of restrictions may further jeopardise social distancing and lead to rise in cases. “Even if we extend the relaxation and allow stand-alone shops to operate, the police and revenue machinery will be engaged in implementing lockdown orders to a great extent. Secondly, shortfall of raw material and manpower will continue to persist until the lockdown is not lifted completely. Against this backdrop, the state government has decided to continue with the complete lockdown for one more week,” an official from Mantralaya said.

The official said that the state can impose stricter norms than specified by the Centre under the Disaster Management Act, but cannot give more relaxations than that ordered by the Centre. “This was the reason why we had to withdraw our last week’s order of allowing sweet and farsan shops within two days,” he said.

Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray is expected to discuss about the relaxations notified by the Centre during his video conference with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday. The state government will again push for special trains for migrant workers to reach their respective states. Maharashtra has been taking care of more than 6.5lakh migrant workers who have been stuck at various shelters across the state. CM Thackeray has already requested the Centre for such special trains, while deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar has written a letter to Railway minister Piyush Goyal for trains from Mumbai and Pune. The state government fears violent reactions from migrants if the ongoing lockdown is extended beyond May 3.