Infections on the rise? Maharashtra sees 5,535 Covid-19 cases and 154 deaths

After reporting a daily average of 4,359 Covid-19 cases and 129 deaths in the first 17 days of this month, infections in the state have started rising as anticipated by experts and authorities.

After reporting a daily average of 4,359 Covid-19 cases and 129 deaths in the first 17 days of this month, infections in the state have started rising as anticipated by experts and authorities.

A health worker collects a swab sample of a resident in Mankhurd on Thursday. (Satish Bate/HT Photo)

The past two days saw more than 5,000 cases each, after a gap of nine days, and over 100 deaths per day. With the addition of 5,535 cases and 154 deaths on Thursday, Maharashtra’s case tally was pushed up to 1,763,055 and toll to 46,356.

Mumbai clocked 924 new infections and 12 more deaths in 24 hours, taking the tally to 272,455 and toll to 10,627. Mumbai’s daily caseload average between November 1 and 17 was 774.

With a daily average of 52,511 tests in November, the state is inching towards completing 10 million Covid-19 tests, with the count standing at 9,965,119 tests on Thursday.

The surge in cases has been registered across the state, but it’s more in cities where crowding at public places has increased. Cities like Mumbai, Thane, Pune, Nashik and Nagpur have witnessed a surge in cases over the past two days. Pune clocked 789 cases, followed by 369 in Nagpur, 334 in Nashik district and 272 in Thane district.

Of the 154 deaths reported on Thursday, 60 occurred in the past two days, 39 over the past week, while the remaining 55 were from the period before it, as stated by the state health department. Maharashtra’s case fatality rate (CFR) stands at 2.63%.

According to officials from the health department, cases are expected to increase in the areas with low temperature and high density of population. “High variations in temperature, crowding at public places and complacency leading to not adopting Covid-19 appropriate behaviour are the reasons that have resulted in rise in the cases. The district administrations have been directed to gear up for the surge, which could see more active patients than reported in the third week of September. We had 3.02 lakh active patients on September 17. The second wave could see the number reaching4 lakh active patients,” the officer said.

He also added that experts and members of the state-appointed task-force were divided over the time of the second wave. “A section of the task force feels that the second wave will be between December 25 and January 26, while another group of members feel that it could be between mid-December and January-end. They also have projected a gradual rise in cases immediately after Diwali,” he added.

Dr Ashok Nandapurkar, civic surgeon, Pune district, said, “Besides augmenting health infrastructure, we have been implementing awareness programmes among people to ensure that they adopt Covid-appropriate behaviours. We have been emphasising on early detection of the infection and timely treatment to avoid fatalities. The health machinery is in a better position than in the initial stage of the outbreak as we have been now trained and have better clarity on the protocols to be followed for tracing, testing and treating patients,” he said.

There are 79,738 active patients in the state after 5,860 discharges in the past 24 hours. The recovery rate of the state stands at 92.79% as the tally of recovered patients touched 163,5971. Currently, 560,868 people are in home quarantine, while 4,284 are institutionally quarantined.