Maha ready to ease curbs as tally passes 70K

Maharashtra on Monday reported 2,361 new coronavirus cases, taking its tally past 70,000 to 70,013, even as the state looks set to start easing lockdown restrictions.

Maharashtra on Monday reported 2,361 new coronavirus cases, taking its tally past 70,000 to 70,013, even as the state looks set to start easing lockdown restrictions. On the difference of three cases after adding the new cases to Sunday’s total, Dr Archana Patil, director, Directorate of Health Services, said, “Reconciliation of cases with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) portal is in process. That’s a reason there is a difference in the total cases.”

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State health officials are expecting the Covid-19 pandemic to reach its peak in the coming days as cases will surge in the post-lockdown scenario. The state is already experiencing a rise in infections in districts where there were no cases or comparatively fewer cases before curbs were relaxed from May 20.

Of the total cases in state, 37,534 are active ones, accounting for 53.61% of the total, according to the state health department.

On Monday, the state also reported 76 deaths, taking the toll to 2,362. Of them, 54 deaths are from the past two days, while the rest are between May 14 to 28, clarified the health department.

Last Friday, the state had recorded 116 fatalities, its highest single-day figure so far. However, the government had clarified that 70 of them were from the previous 13 days.

Meanwhile, Mumbai also breached the 40,000 case mark after 1,413 new cases were reported on Monday, taking its count to 41,099 cases. Of them, 22,789 are active cases.

Of the 76 fatalities, 40 were in Mumbai, eight were in Pune, six each in Navi Mumbai and Mira-Bhayander, three in Vasai-Virar and Aurangabad , two each in Kalyan-Dombivli and Raigad, and one each in Thane, Nashik, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Jalna, Beed and Nagpur. The city’s toll stands at 1,319.

Of the total deaths, 37 were of above 60 years of age, while 36 were in the age group of 40 to 59 years and the remaining three were below the age of 40 years. Of the deceased, 51 had high-risk co-morbidities, including diabetes, hypertension and heart ailments, health officials said.

However, the rapidly rising graph of Maharashtra’s cases can pose a challenge; data shows that 84.72% of the state’s total 67,655 cases till Sunday, which is 57,323 cases, were reported in May — an average of 1,850 cases daily.

Since the past 15 days, the state has recorded over 2,000 cases every day except on May 24, when it shot up to 3,041, which was the highest single-day spike at the time. In comparison, only 10,201 cases were registered in the state in April.

To put the steep hike in further perspective, one should consider that the state’s first coronavirus case was reported on March 9 and it took 30 days for the figure to cross the 1,000 mark.

State health Rajesh Tope on Monday said the recovery rate has improved by over three per centage points and so is the doubling rate of the cases. “The state government is trying to improve the situation. It is with effort that the recovery rate has improved by 3.5% points and is currently at 43.35%. The doubling rate has also increased to 17.5 days from 11 days,” he said.

“We are trying our best to further improve the recovery rate and doubling rate of cases,” he added.

Officials, however, believe there will be a surge in cases in the next few days and the pandemic will reach its peak as more people will be exposed to the virus, following the ease in restrictions.

“Our concern is the rise in cases as more people will come out in red zones owing to the relaxations. It also means, more people will be exposed to the virus and hence, there will be more cases at the same time. This also could be the peak and that is the reason we have augmented the health facilities to deal with any situation,” said a senior official, requesting anonymity.

The state has augmented the bed capacity to 25,000 in 2,576 hospitals, while the isolation bed capacity has been ramped up to 2.5 lakh beds.

The state is already experiencing a rise in cases in districts where there were no cases or were minimal in number before fresh relaxations were given in the state on May 20. “We can take Gadchiroli as an example. Till May 18, the district didn’t have a single case, but after relaxations were given and migrant workers were also allowed to go back to their native villages, 35 people have been found infected with the coronavirus there so far,” he stated.

Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, in his live address on Sunday night, also indicated a rise in cases. He also said the lifting of curbs was being done very cautiously as the state was at a turning point. “We have either reached the peak of the curve or are about to reach. There will be a downward trend starting in the next eight-15 days,” Thackeray said.

Last week, chief secretary Ajoy Mehta had clearly stated that the state expects cases to surge after lockdown curbs are lifted and are planning relaxations accordingly. “There will be a surge in cases after relaxations are given. We are planning to ease out the restrictions in phases and in a calibrated manner to avoid a sudden surge. The lifting of curbs will be announced in stages. Health infrastructure is being ramped up to ensure that cases can be handled effectively,” said Mehta.

On Monday, the state also completed 70 days of lockdown, which was imposed from the midnight of March 23, a day before the nationwide lockdown imposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It was partially lifted on April 20 in the areas where there are no cases or minimal cases.

On Sunday, the state has announced extending the lockdown to June 30, but at the same time extended more relaxations that will be applicable in three phases starting from June 3. From Wednesday, it is allowing outdoor activities like jogging, running and cycling and from June 8, private offices in red zones (excluding containment zones) will be allowed to operate.

According to the state’s notification, physical activities, including walking, running, exercising, cycling, can begin from June 3 in sports complexes, stadia, playgrounds, beaches and open spaces. Shops, market places can be open (on odd-even basis) from June 5 and private offices (up to 10 per cent of staff) can start operating from June 8. These relaxations are applicable for the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) [the areas governed by nine municipal corporations], Pune, Solapur, Aurangabad, Malegaon, Nashik, Dhule, Jalgaon, Akola, Amravati and Nagpur — the 19 corporations that have been earmarked as red zones. All the containment zones within the red zones remain excluded from the relaxations.

All markets, market areas and shops, except malls and market complexes, have now been allowed to open on a P1-P2 basis between 9am and 5pm. Shops on one lane will be allowed to open on odd dates, while another lane will be opened on even dates.

The non-red zone areas, which include the remaining eight municipal corporations and rest of Maharashra, mostly covering the rural areas, have already been given greater relaxations.

Thackeray said, “We are easing it out in a phased manner, so that we will not have to withdraw relaxations like how a few countries were forced to do so. In some countries, the lockdown curbs were reimposed because of the surge, while in some others, schools had to be shut down after they were opened.

The health department declared to have conducted 4,71,573 tests at various public and private facilities across Maharashtra. Of them, 4,01,560 people tested negative, said an official.

State currently has 3,294 active containment zones. A total of 18,674 survey teams, comprising doctors and assisting staff, have screened more than 70.69 lakh people.

So far, 36,189 people have been kept in institutional quarantine in the state and over 5,67,552 people have been put under home quarantine.

With the rise in fresh cases, the number of deaths has also started rising in the past few days. In the past 15 days, the state has recorded 1,164 deaths in the past 15 days, which is 49.28% of the total deaths recorded thus far.

The mortality rate has also slightly increased to 3.38% (2,287 deaths on May 31) from 3.27% (1,792 deaths on May 26). It is also more than the national mortality rate, which is 2.83%, with 5,394 deaths till Sunday, stated the data from the state medical education department.

However, the state has also succeeded in bringing down the mortality rate significantly from last month. On April 13, the mortality rate of the state was 7.41%. (148 deaths). This indicates improvement of 4.4%, the data shows.