Maha sees its highest 1-day jump of 6,330 Covid cases

Maharashtra on Thursday recorded its highest single-day spike of 6,330 Covid-19 cases, first in excess of 6,000, as the tally rose to 1,86,626. Of them, 77,260 are

Maharashtra on Thursday recorded its highest single-day spike of 6,330 Covid-19 cases, first in excess of 6,000, as the tally rose to 1,86,626. Of them, 77,260 are active cases, according to data released by the state health department.

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In a relief, the number of recovered patients crossed the 1 lakh mark. In the past 24 hours, 8,018 patients had recovered or got discharged from hospitals, after which the tally of recovered patients reached 1,01,172. This also pushed the recovery rate of the state to 54.21%.

Besides, the state has also conducted over 10 lakh Covid-19 tests. On Thursday, the health department said the number of tests conducted at various public and private laboratories stood at 10,20,368. Of them, 8,33,742 people tested negative. It means 18.29% of the total samples tested positive, said an official. Maharashtra has conducted 11.26% of the total tests in the country, as of July 1, with 90,56,173 samples tested across the country.

As there was a projection that the peak is likely to come this month, the number of fresh cases is likely to further rise and the situation may become more challenging in the coming days.

Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray had on Sunday confirmed that there will be a spike in infections in the next few weeks as they have opened up activities and are giving further relaxations from lockdown to ensure revival of the economy. But following the surge in infections, the state has put on hold its plans to provide more relaxations.

Meanwhile, state health minister Rajesh Tope clarified that there is no community transmission in the state. “The number of fresh cases is increasing, but it cannot be termed as community transmission as most cases are coming either from containment zones or institutional quarantine facilities. There is no community spread in the state yet,” Tope said.

The state on Thursday recorded 125 deaths, taking the toll to 8,178. Of them, 110 deaths were from past 48 hours, while the rest were from past few days, the health officials said.

Mumbai crossed the 80,000 mark after recording 1,554 cases in the past 24 hours. The city’s case count stands at 80,699, of which, 25,311 are active cases.

Mumbai’s toll stands at 4,689 after 58 deaths were reported.

Following the spike in cases, many cities and districts have re-imposed lockdown, although for a brief period, to break the chain of the virus’s spread.

Cities in Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) such as Thane, Kalyan-Dombivli, Mira-Bhayandar, Ulhasnagar have imposed lockdown in their jurisdiction for ten days, while in Navi Mumbai and Panvel, it will be enforced from Friday for the next ten days. In Mira Bhayander, it was imposed from July 1.

In MMR, cases have increased to 1,24,597 from 55,086 on June 3, when the state decided to provide relaxations in red zones, including MMR.

In Mumbai, police has restricted the travel up to 2-km for residents, except for office-goers and essential services.

The health minister said that they have found people stepping out of their homes unnecessarily and if that is resulting in rise in cases then curbs will have to be brought back. “The state has empowered all municipal commissioners and district collectors to impose necessary restrictions in their jurisdiction to contain spread of the pandemic, whenever required,” Tope said.

Lockdown will also be imposed for 12 days in Panvel, which comes under Raigad district, due to spike in cases, from July 3. Aditi Tatkare, guardian minister of the district, said the Raigad is facing different situation as it was also affected by Cyclone Nisarga. “There was movement in the district because of different priorities as it was also affected due to cyclone. People from Mumbai have also come in the district as they have their home here too. More importantly, 85-90% of the daily cases are found among people related to essential services or their close contacts,” Tatkare said.

Panvel has 2,652 cases at present.

In a meeting chaired by the chief minister to review the pandemic crisis in MMR last week, more stress was given on building jumbo hospitals in the satellite cities, because they don’t have enough health infrastructure to cope with the crisis in case of a peak. The CM instructed local authorities to focus on augmenting health infrastructure as we have to be prepared in advance,” said an official, privy to the development.

In other cities such as Aurangabad, lockdown will be imposed in Walunj industrial area between July 4-12. In Nashik city, night curfew has been imposed from 7pm to 5am to curb the pandemic’s spread.

Aurangabad and Nashik have 4,688 and 2,491 cases respectively.

Districts such as Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg and Beed too have imposed lockdown in their jurisdiction following surge in cases. In Ratnagiri, it was enforced from July 1 for eight days, Sindhudurg and Beed imposed it for seven days from July 2.

Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg and Beed have 630, 221 and 121 cases respectively.

Along with surge in cases, the state is also facing a rise in the number of deaths. To control the situation, the state on Thursday declared to start a task force of expert doctors in all districts. State medical education minister Amit Deshmukh said that the task force will work on the lines of the one made in Mumbai. “The task force will decide treatment for all types of Covid-19 patients. They will also coordinate among all local authorities in a district. This will help in reducing mortalities as well as control the spread,” Deshmukh said.

With 8,053 deaths on Wednesday, the case fatality rate (CFR) of the state was recorded on 4.47%. It is the second-highest in the country after Gujarat, where CFR is 5.62% with 1,867 deaths (33,232 cases) till Wednesday, according to the statistics shared by the state medical education department.

Maharashtra still has highest number of deaths across states in the country.

By the end of May, the state had successfully brought down the CFR to 3.26% (on May 26) from 7.41% (with 148 deaths) on April 13.

So far, 41,741 people have been kept in institutional quarantine in the state and over 5,72,032 people have been put under home quarantine.

The health minister said they will be starting use of plasma therapy in all the districts as it is found as an effective way of treatment. “Nine of ten patients are responding well to the therapy,” he said.

Tope also said that they will be allowing relatives of the patients to enter Covid hospitals. They will also be directing the hospitals to install CCTV cameras in intensive care units (ICU) so that relatives can see patients from outside.