Maha sees record 5,318 new cases, count inches near 1.6L

Maharashtra on Saturday recorded 5,318 fresh Covid-19 cases — the fourth day in a row the state saw a record single-day jump in infections and the second consecutive

Maharashtra on Saturday recorded 5,318 fresh Covid-19 cases — the fourth day in a row the state saw a record single-day jump in infections and the second consecutive day of over 5,000 cases.

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Additionally, the state has reconciled 1,050 cases from all districts and municipal corporations between March 9 and June 7, taking the total to 159,133. Mumbai on Saturday reported 1,402 new cases and 675 old cases have been reconciled, taking the day’s total to 2,077 — the highest number of cases reported in a day in Mumbai. The total number of cases reported in India’s worst-hit city has reached 74,252.

The state recorded 167 fatalities on Saturday, taking the toll to 7,273. The case fatality rate (CFR) in the state stands at 4.57%. Of the deaths reported in the state on Saturday, 86 occurred in the past 48 hours and 81 deaths were before that.

These include five in Jalgaon, four in Dhule, two each in Ahmednagar and Nashik, one each in Vasai-Virar, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Jalna and Latur, data from the state health department revealed.

Mumbai recorded 41 new fatalities in the past 48 hours,while 64 fatalities from earlier weeks have been reconciled, taking the city’s toll to 4,284.

The situation in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) continues to remain grave with a further rise in the satellite cities around Mumbai. Thane city and Kalyan-Dombivli continues to record a surge in cases.

Thane city and Kalyan-Dombivli recorded its highest single-day spikes of 410 and 514 new cases, respectively.

Navi Mumbai recorded 164 new cases, Thane district recorded 235 new cases. Bhiwandi and Vasai-Virar recorded 110 and 170 new cases, respectively.

The Central government team is in Maharashtra to review the Covid-19 situation and planning in the state. A team headed by joint secretary of the Union ministry of health and family welfare, Lav Agarwal, visited Thane city to take a review of the situation on Saturday. The team asked the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) not to be scared of the increasing number of cases, instead, concentrate on decreasing the mortality rate, create awareness among residents, ensure norms of containment zones are followed, provide enough staff to Covid centres and hospitals, procure an adequate supply of necessary medicines and increase the number of screenings done every day.

The team visited the new 1,000-bed hospital set up in the Global Impact hub in Saket and another hospital being set up in Kausa stadium in Mumbra. “Even though the number of positive cases is increasing, instead of being scared, the corporation will have to focus on improving the efficiency of the system. Ensure that the old and critically ill patients are provided hospital beds, so that the death rate would come down. The screening of people should also increase so that infected patients can be identified early. There is a need for awareness among people, so that all measures taken are for their own benefit, while norms should be strictly followed in containment zones,” Agarwal said.

He added that movement in the containment zone should be strictly monitored and that the residents there should not go out of the zone, while outsiders should not be able to enter these zones. Agarwal added, “Co-ordination between testing labs, hospitals, and the health department is also important so that the patient will get beds easily.”

State health secretary Dr Pradeep Vyas, instructed the corporation to vigorously carry out contact tracing, increase quarantine facilities and testing capacity and improve sanitation of public toilets to keep the count in check.

Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray had a meeting with the health ministry team at the Bal Thackeray memorial plot in Shivaji Park after the team visited Covid hospitals in Thane. Thane guardian minister Eknath Shinde and minister Aaditya Thackeray were also present in the meeting, along with state officials. Thackeray, in the meeting, discussed measures to control the spread of the virus in the state.

State health minister Rajesh Tope said the state government “expects more support” from the Centre in its fight against Covid-19. The minister said that the Centre has not provided adequate ventilators and is delaying decisions that can make nearly 3,000 doctors available for the state. “We have sought 5,000 ventilators from the Centre, but have only got 277 so far. We expect a lot from the Centre. We have also requested the prime minister to postpone final-year exams of postgraduate students pursuing medical courses or give marks based on internal exams. We have requested the Centre to make available trained doctors to work in ICUs. The Centre can do so, but they are not doing it. Around 3,000 trained doctors will be available in the state if the prime minister can convene a meeting in this regard as these laws are governed by the Centre,” he said, adding that the decision would be in the interest of the nation and not one state.

According to Tope, the contagious nature of Sars-CoV-2, the virus that causes coronavirus disease (Covid-19), has led to so many cases, however, the fatality rate of the virus is lower than H1N1 or swine flu which is at 10%. He added that the state government is attempting to keep the CFR lower in Covid-19 by getting drugs, including remdesivir, life-saving medical equipment such as ventilators, etc.

“We have already decided to procure drugs including remdesivir and favipiravir, etc. for common people in each district in the state. It will not remain a drug for the rich and influential. This virus is contagious but the death rate through it is not as high as swine flu, which is over 10%. I think the mortality rate in Covid-19 will remain around 3%. But because the virus is contagious, the cases seem more. Even if there is a spike, we are working towards it not leading to death in cases. Our planning and goal is to further reduce the mortality rate,” Tope said.

Tope also refuted the allegations made by former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on the state not reporting around 1,000 out-of-hospital Covid-19 deaths in the state. The minister said that there have been delays in reconciliation, but there is no intention to hide. Tope called Fadnavis a “studious” leader and said valid suggestions are welcome from him, but he should not politicise the fight against Covid-19.

“We are following ICMR guidelines. In some cases, a suspected Covid-19 patient dies, swab is collected for the test and the results come after two-three days. Doctors inform the local authorities, they in turn inform the department that brings out the daily figures. As reconciliation happens, all figures are reported. No death has ever been unreported and it will not happen in the future. There is a delay, but I told municipal commissioner and district collectors that it will not be tolerated. The Maharasthra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government is working in a transparent manner and it has the trust of the people,” he said.

Meanwhile, 4,430 patients were discharged on Saturday across the state, taking the total number of discharged people to 84,245. With a recovery rate of 52.94%, the state’s active case tally stands at 67,600. Maharashtra has so far tested 8,96,874 samples and has a positivity rate of 17.74%. Currently, 5,65,161 people are in home quarantine and 36,925 people are in institutional quarantine.