Maha Covid-19 tally rises to 327,031; toll is 12,276

Maharashtra on Tuesday reported 8,369 new Covid-19 infections — its third-highest single-day spike — taking the tally to 327,031, as the high doubling and case fatality

Maharashtra on Tuesday reported 8,369 new Covid-19 infections — its third-highest single-day spike — taking the tally to 327,031, as the high doubling and case fatality rates (CFR) in some districts have become a cause of concern for authorities. For example, Gadchiroli’s doubling rate — the number of days it takes for infections to double — is 10 days, against the state’s rate of 27.81 days, as of July 20. Gadchiroli reported its first Covid-19 case more than 60 days after the state reported its first.

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Maharashtra has 132,236 active cases with 181,217 recoveries, as of Tuesday. The state’s recovery rate improved to 55.72% after 7,188 more patients recovered in the past 24 hours.

The state’s worst affected city, Mumbai, has 103,368 cases after the addition of 992 fresh infections.

The state also reported 246 more deaths, taking the toll to 12,276. Mumbai reported 62 of them, pushing the toll to 5,817. There were 40 deaths in Pune city, 15 in Pimpri-Chinchwad and 12 in Aurangabad city. The state’s CFR stands at 3.75%, while Mumbai’s CFR is 5.62%. The national CFR, as of Monday, is 2.46%

Pune city remained on the top of the daily caseload chart at 1,678 cases, accounting for 20.05% of the state’s new cases. Its neighbouring city, Pimpri-Chinchwad, reported 708 cases in the past 24-hours.

Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), excluding Mumbai, reported 1,985 cases on Tuesday, little more than the 1,847 cases two weeks ago on July 7, but its share in the daily state figures has dropped to 23.72% on Tuesday, from 35.97% two weeks ago. Four weeks ago, on June 23, the MMR, excluding Mumbai, had reported 1,443 cases and accounted for 44.90% of the state’s daily caseload.

July has so far seen 152,270 cases, which is 46.56% of the state’s tally. June saw 107,106 cases, accounting for 32.75% of the total cases. In May 57,157 cases were reported — 17.48%.

Although the state’s overall positivity rate is 19.93% after 1,640,644 tests so far, its daily positivity rate has gone up. The state has conducted 257,875 coronavirus tests in the past seven days till Monday, at a daily rate of 36,839 tests with a positivity rate of 22.40%.

Meanwhile, even as Maharashtra’s authorities expect the coronavirus infection curve to stabilise in the next couple of weeks, the high doubling and CFR in some districts has concerned them.

In Gadchiroli, the doubling rate is 10 days, while in Chandrapur and Pune it is 14 days. In Solapur, which tops the chart for CFR at 6.7%, cases have doubled in 17 days.

“We hope that it does not penetrate into the smaller towns and rural areas, as witnessed in some countries. First patient in Gadchiroli was found over 60 days after the first patient in the state was reported, but its doubling rate is high. From 96 patients on July 10, the district tally has reached 194 patients on Monday. During our meeting with district collectors and divisional commissioner three days ago, local authorities have been strictly directed to keep cases in control by aggressively tracing and testing suspected contacts,” said a state government official ,who did not want to be named.

Solapur district authorities, too, have been directed to control CFR. “We have increased our daily tests rate from 1,250 a day two weeks ago to 5,200 a day. 11,000 rapid antigen test kits were used in the last few weeks to trace the infection. With more than 11,500 beds for Covid-19 treatment, we are all set to treat patients effectively. Early identification will help us contain the virus and bring down the mortality rate in the next few weeks,” said Dr Pradeep Dhele, civil surgeon, Solapur district.

Government officials said that they are not worried about rising cases and more testing will help them bring the infection under control. “We are prepared for a rise in the cases as our testing rate has increased after we introduced antigen tests. This will help us reduce transmission rate and contain the spread,” said Dr Pradeep Awate, state surveillance officer.

State has 779,676 people home quarantined and 45,077 under institutional quarantine.