Maharashtra records lowest Covid-19 cases surge in 90 days

Maharashtra on Monday recorded 7,089 new Covid-19 cases — its lowest 24-hour rise in 90 days — to push up the state’s tally to 1,535,315. The state had recorded

Maharashtra on Monday recorded 7,089 new Covid-19 cases — its lowest 24-hour rise in 90 days — to push up the state’s tally to 1,535,315. The state had recorded 6,741 cases on July 14. Maharashtra also reported 165 fatalities, taking the toll to 40,514. The number of active patients in the state stands to 212,439.

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Mumbai, meanwhile, reported 1,620 new Covid-19 cases, taking its tally to 231,066. Mumbai also reported 36 fatalities, pushing up the toll to 9,469. The city has 25,360 active cases. Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), excluding Mumbai, had 1,540 new cases and 35 deaths. The numbers going down in MMR is crucial for Mumbai as thousands of people travel in the region for business and work.

Of the 165 deaths reported on Monday, 100 were from the previous 48 hours, while 21 were from the past week. The remaining 44 deaths were from the week before last.

The case fatality rate (CFR) in the state stood at 2.64%. Monday also saw 15,656 patients discharged, taking the tally of recovered patients to 1,281,896. The state’s recovery rate also improved to 83.49%.

The state has been witnessing a decline in daily cases over the past five weeks. The seven-day average of daily cases in Maharashtra touched 21,996 between September 8 and September 14, the highest so far. In the four weeks since, the average number of cases dropped and stands at 11,666 on Monday— down by 46% from the peak in September. In October, so far, the average rate of samples testing positive has been 17.09%, which has brought down the state’s overall positivity rate under 20%. The state’s overall positivity rate stood at 19.94%. Since October 1, the daily rate of samples testing positive has decreased from 18.25% to 14.47% on October 11. In the last 24 hours, 54,322 samples were tested, of which 7,089 tested positive, which is a positivity rate of 13.04%.

However, the state health department officials warned that the curve may rise again with the festive season coming up. Officials said that people will have to maintain discipline in celebrations during Navratri, Dussehra and Diwali in the coming days. “We have already witnessed what happens with increased movement of people; cases increased between June and September. People should be disciplined and maintain physical distancing and wear masks. There could be some increase in cases after the festive period,” an official said.