Maha Covid-19 tally touches 748

The number of deaths from the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) across the country touched 100 on Sunday as the total infections crossed 4,000 – 748 of them in Maharashtra

The number of deaths from the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) across the country touched 100 on Sunday as the total infections crossed 4,000 – 748 of them in Maharashtra – with the Central government pegging the doubling rate of the pathogen’s spread at 4.1 days, a figure it said would have stood at 7.4 in the absence of the Nizamuddin cluster. Maharashtra recorded 13 more deaths — the highest 24-hour jump — on Sunday, taking the toll to 45, even as the state reported 113 fresh cases of the infection, revealed figures released by the state health department.

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Sixteen deaths and 514 new infections were reported on the 12th day of a national lockdown that has been put in place to break the chain of infections. “Our focus is that we chase the virus, rather than the virus chasing us,” health ministry joint secretary Lav Agarwal said during a news briefing. The Union health ministry said that 505 new Covid-19 cases and 15 deaths were reported since Saturday and the total Covid-19 cases were 3,577, with the death toll being 83. However, a tally by Covid19india.org that was cross-checked by HT, showed that the number of cases stood at 4,198, with 114 deaths. There is a lag in the Union health ministry’s data when compared to that of states. Officials say this is because of procedural delays in state-wise cataloguing of cases.

The recent spike in infections has largely been propelled by the detection of hundreds of patients who attended the congregation of the Tablighi Jamaat, a Muslim missionary group, in New Delhi’s Nizamuddin Basti last month in a violation of several restrictions. Cases linked to the meet have been reported across 17 states and Union Territories so far.

Of Maharashtra’s 13 deaths, eight were in Mumbai, taking the city’s toll to 30, the highest in the country. Three deaths were in Pune and one each in Kalyan-Dombivli and Aurangabad. Four of them died in Kasturba Hospital, Mumbai; two in KEM, Mumbai; two in separate hospitals in Chembur; two in Sassoon Hospital, Pune; one at a district hospital in Pune, while one died in a government hospital in Aurangabad. Most of them had no travel history and barring four, all others were above 60 years of age.

Of the 113 people who tested positive for the infection (Sars-Cov-2) in Maharashtra on Sunday, 81 are from Mumbai, 18 from Pune, six from Navi Mumbai, four from Aurangabad, three from Ahmednagar and one from Osmanabad.

A 55-year-old taxi driver, who died in a Chembur hospital, used to ferry passengers from the Mumbai international airport, the state health department report stated.

Most of the people who attended the Tablighi Jamaat programe in Nizamuddin on March 18 have been traced and are being either kept in isolation or quarantine, the health department has stated. “The local administrations are tracing the people who came in contact with them and are still unidentified. Of the Tablighi attendees, seven have tested positive for coronavirus. Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad and Ahmednagar had two patients each, while one is from Hingoli. Five others found positive are the relatives of these attendees,” health department official said.

With a sudden spike in cases in Mumbai and the state, the state administration has been asked to be on their toes with stricter monitoring of containment zones. District collectors and municipal commissioners have been directed to concentrate on the zones, treating them as hotspots. The administration believes that the monitoring of the zones will help the government contain the rise in patients. In Mumbai, the administration has identified around 300 such zones, which are being monitored minutely to restrict the spread.

“According to our estimates, we expect the cases to go up for ten more days in Mumbai and other cities, where infected people have been found in large numbers. We expect the figures to reach a plateau by April 15, and then the number of cases will stabilise. But bringing back the situation to normal will take a week after that. We firmly believe that by concentrating on hotspots, we will be able to contain the spread,” said an official from Mantralaya.

State health minister Rajesh Tope said 3,078 teams of health workers have so far tracked more than 10 lakh people and they are being monitored for further procedures.

Mumbai and Navi Mumbai have 519 and 196 teams, respectively, working to implement the cluster containment action plan. Pune and Nagpur municipal corporations have engaged 439 and 210 such teams respectively.

The state government has tested 16,008 samples for coronavirus infections. Of them, 14,837 tested negative. 56 patients have been discharged from various hospitals after their post-isolation tests came negative. 3,122 people are in institutional quarantine, while 46,586 are under home quarantine.

The administration has also been directed to concentrate on districts where the cases are zero. “There are around ten districts with no cases so far. As they continue to be unaffected, we can ensure that administrative machinery in those districts can be utilised in other areas if need be,” an official from the public health department said.

The state government has asserted that Maharashtra has not reached the third stage of Covid-19 transmission, the stage in which the infection through social transmission is rapid. It has, however, taken measures to ensure that the machinery is prepared even if social transmission began. Every collector and municipal commissioner in the state has identified/acquired schools, colleges, lodges and marriage halls in their respective areas as measure of preparedness. Doctors from all streams have been given training, while students from National Cadet Crop (NCC) and other social services activities at school and college levels, too, are being trained, said an official from the state government.

“The videos of training modules are being circulated among health workers and 1.25 lakh more doctors are being trained as preparatory measure,” said Rajesh Tope, state health minister.

Meanwhile, chief minister Uddhav Thackeray lent a helping hand to people stranded in Delhi by announcing that they can be put up at Maharashtra Sadan. He spoke to one such Mulund resident, Elizabeth Pingle, on Sunday. Pingale, who was in 14-day quarantine, was left stranded as the hotel she was staying in shut for business and she could not find a place to stay. Thackeray spoke to Pingle and assured her with the arrangements for stay at Maharashtra Sadan. More than 15 such people with negative test reports are staying at the Maharashtra Sadan, chief minister office said.

According to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the city recorded 103 coronavirus cases and eight deaths in Mumbai, the highest in a day so far. Of the new cases, 55 are from private laboratories between March 31 and April 1. After reconfirming pending reports, BMC added the figure on Sunday. This takes the total number of Covid-19 cases in the city to 433.

Of the city’s eight deaths, three cases were recorded between March 31 and April 3, which were pending cross-checking with BMC. A 67-year-old woman from Dombivli died at Kasturba Hospital last evening. She didn’t have international travel history. She had diabetes and hypertension. Similarly, another 64-year-old man died at Kasturba Hospital on Saturday. One 62-year-old man died on April 1 at Nair Hospital with respiratory problems and was found Covid-19 positive on April 2. A 52-year-old male died on April 3 at Kasturba Hospital with a known case of hypertension and diabetes. A 70-year-old woman died at KEM hospital Mumbai last night. She was a patient of diabetes and hypertension. Owing to her chronic kidney disease, she was on dialysis. A 77-year-old man died on Saturday morning at Kasturba hospital, who had hypertension and diabetes. An 80-year-old man died on Sunday morning at a private hospital in Chembur. He was a patient of diabetes, hypertension and suffered from epilepsy.

Meanwhile, Thane city recorded five new cases on Sunday, taking the city’s coronavirus count to 21. Apart from the three, one each in Kalwa, Mumbra and Kajuvadi, out of the remaining two cases, one is a doctor from Naupada, who had examined the Palghar man who died, and another is a resident of Vrundavan society.

An official of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said that Sars-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, is not airborne. “If it was an airborne infection, then in a family whoever has a contact they all should come positive because they are living in same surrounding as the patient and the family is breathing the same air. When someone is admitted in hospital, other patients would have got exposure (if it was airborne) but that is not the case,” said Raman R Gangakhedkar, head of epidemiology and communicable diseases at ICMR.

ICMR has issued an advisory that said spitting in public places could enhance the spread of Covid-19. On the question of rapid antibody tests, Gangakhedkar said test kits should be available by Wednesday.

The country’s apex biomedical research organisation on Saturday released an advisory on how and where to use the rapid test, which can determine the immunity of an individual and help people get back into the workforce. The advisory includes people in high-risk areas (containment zones), large migration gatherings and evacuation centres. A task force constituted to review the testing guidelines did not open up rapid testing to the private sector.

At the briefing, Agarwal said cabinet secretary Rajiv Gauba held a meeting with district magistrates, superintendents of police, chief medical officers, state and district surveillance officers, state health secretaries, district health secretaries and chief secretaries to review the situation.

District officials shared strategies on how they delineated containment and buffer zone, how they carried out door-to-door survey through special teams and how through telemedicine and call centres people who came from foreign countries were monitored.

Covid-19 cases have been reported in 274 districts (till Sunday afternoon) and the cabinet secretary requested all DMs to maintain uniformity in their response and establish a crisis management plan, he said.

The government said all states were asked to put in place a district-specific containment strategy in place based on the detailed large outbreak control plan issued by the health ministry on Saturday. “Surveillance and contact tracing has been our main focus, and we will continue to put emphasis on that,” said Agarwal.

(with inputs from Rupsa Chakraborty)