Maharashtra sees fewer than 5,000 Covid-19 cases for third straight day

Maharashtra on Monday recorded 3,075 Covid-19 cases, pushing the state’s tally to 1,855,341, as active cases further reduced to 75,767

Maharashtra on Monday recorded 3,075 Covid-19 cases, pushing the state’s tally to 1,855,341, as active cases further reduced to 75,767(4.08% of the total). The toll reached 47,774 as 40 fatalities were reported in the past 24 hours, officials said.

A health worker collects a swab sample of a resident in Govandi on Monday. (Pratik Chorge/HT)

Maharashtra has been reporting fewer than 5,000 Covid-19 cases for the past three consecutive days, which is being seen as a positive sign as the state was wary of a surge in infections after Diwali.

However, officials believe that they cannot be complacent as the concern of a surge still persists. The state had already directed local authorities to be vigilant and prepared for a possible second wave outbreak.

“The situation in the state has largely remained the same since last month, except for the last week of November, when there was a slight rise in fresh infections. In the first week of this month, the state is again getting comparatively fewer cases. Still there is no scope to be negligent as the danger has not passed yet. We will have to wait for another month to see if there is any change in the scenario before reaching any conclusion,” said a senior official from the state health department.

A comparison of cases over two weeks showed that the state has recorded 33,695 cases in the first week of this month (December 1-7), whereas in the last week of November, the cases reported were 39,535.

The average per day cases in the first week of both the months — November and December — are also close at 4,860 and 4,813, respectively.

Meanwhile, Mumbai continued to record the highest daily caseload with 544 cases reported on Monday, taking the count to 286,597, of which active cases are 12,477. There were 11 deaths reported and the toll in the city has reached 10,907.

Nagpur city contributed the second-highest infections in the daily caseload as it has recorded 219 cases, taking their tally to 89,398.

Pune city recorded 186 cases, third-highest number of infections, pushing its count to 182,722

State’s case fatality rate (CFR) has also started declining gradually. On Monday, it was recorded at 2.57%, but it is still at second position after Punjab in the country, where CFR was 3.15% (with 4,916 deaths) on Sunday, according to information shared by the state medical education department

The fewer cases can be attributed to fewer tests as 45,016 tests were conducted on Monday. The total number of tests conducted in the state till date are 113,18,721. The positivity rate for the day was recorded at 6.83%, against the overall positivity rate of the state that stood at 16.39%.

The number of recovered patients reached 1,730,715 with 7,345 recoveries recorded in the past 24 hours. The state’s recovery rate was recorded at 93.28%.