Maha crosses 90,000 virus cases; shop timings further relaxed in city

Maharashtra crossed the 90,000 mark for coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases as 2,259 more infections were reported on Tuesday. The state’s case count stands at

Maharashtra crossed the 90,000 mark for coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases as 2,259 more infections were reported on Tuesday. The state’s case count stands at 90,787, of which, 43,591 are active ones, according to the state health department.

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With more relaxations even in red zones, the state is concerned about an increase in cases as the infection curve has not slowed down so far. The government is worried about a second wave, following more relaxations as seen in countries like China and South Korea.

The death toll of the state also reached 3,289 after 120 casualties were reported on Tuesday, of which 49 were in the past two days, while the rest were between May 11 and June 6, clarified the state government. Tuesday was the ninth day wherein the state recorded over 100 deaths. Of them, Mumbai recorded 58, taking its toll to 1,638. The city saw an addition of 1,015 cases on Tuesday.

Despite the case count not reducing, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) decided to further relax timings for shops and market places in Mumbai. The civic body has allowed shops and market places to remain open for full working hours. Earlier, they were allowed to operate between 9am to 5pm in the city. The case count in Mumbai is 51,100. Of these, 26,391 are active cases.

As part of the state government’s ‘Mission Begin Again’ to unlock restrictions in phases, the state has allowed private offices in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) to operate at 10% of its workforce or 10 employees (whichever is higher) from Monday. This relaxation, along with the resumption of Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) bus services, saw more people and traffic snarls on roads in the city. Last week, the state had also allowed physical activities such as jogging, running and non-essential shops to operate on alternate days in red zones (excluding containment areas).

“We are closely monitoring the situation as cases may surge following maximum relaxations in lockdown given so far, even in red zones. We are more worried of a second wave that has hit countries like China and South Korea following relaxations. It will spark panic among people and the state may have to reconsider its decision on giving relaxations,” said a senior minister, wishing not to be named.

The current situation of Covid-19 was discussed in the state cabinet meeting held on Tuesday evening. State health secretary Dr Pradeep Vyas also made a presentation in the meeting.

He informed the cabinet that the doubling rate of cases of the state has increased to 20.67 days, as against 16.05 days of the country, while the doubling rate of Mumbai has increased to 24.53 days.

‘We are also expecting the curve to flatten by this month- end if things remained under our control. After this, the decline in cases will start,” added the minister.

The ministers also expressed concern over the rising mortality rate.

The mortality rate has increased to 3.58% (3,169 deaths on June 8) from 3.27% (1,792 deaths on May 26). It is also more than the national mortality rate, which is 2.80% with 7,466 deaths till Monday, stated a report of the state medical education department.

On the positive side, the recovery rate in the state is showing constant improvement. It was 26.25% on May 20, 29.06% on May 24. It improved to 43.28% on May 29 after as many as 8,381 patients were reported as recovered following the changes in norms to discharge patients. On Tuesday, it reached 46.96% as 42,638 patients have been discharged so far.

Health minister Rajesh Tope said 5,77,819 tests have been conducted at various public and private facilities across Maharashtra. Of them, 4,87,032 people tested negative. It means, only 15.81% of the cases are positive.

The state currently has 3,750 containment zones. A total of 18,994 survey teams, comprising doctors and assisting staff, have screened more than 69.17 lakh people.

So far, 26,470 people have been kept in institutional quarantine in the state and over 5,68,073 people have been put under home quarantine.

Meanwhile, the state government has asked people not to consume half-cooked meat as one of the precautionary measures to be safe from Covid-19. On Monday, the state medical education department has issued guidelines as general precautionary measures for people. It has asked people to stay away from pets, avoid visiting poultry farm, animal breeding centres and abattoirs.

It has also approved treatments for asymptomatic patients in homeopathy, ayurvedic and unani medicines. The treatment was approved based on the recommendations made by an AYUSH task-force set up by the state to look at the way forward, using alternative medicine therapies.