Maharashtra reports 5,182 new Covid cases, sees over 100 deaths for second day in a row

The state reported 8,066 discharges, taking the tally of recovered patients to 1,703,274

Maharashtra on Thursday added 5,182 fresh Covid-19 cases to take the state’s tally to 1,837,358. For the second day straight, the state recorded more than 100 fatalities, with 115 deaths pushing the toll to 47,472. Between November 21 and December 1, the state reported fewer than 100 deaths.

Healthcare worker collects a swab sample of a resident in Govandi. (Pratik Chorge/ HT)

Active cases in the state now stood at 85,535. Of the 115 deaths reported on Thursday, 46 occurred within the past 48 hours, 22 were in the past week, and the remaining 47 were before one week, the state health department said.

Mumbai, meanwhile, reported 878 infections to take its tally to 283,696. It reported 18 fatalities on Thursday to take the toll to 10,931. The active cases in Mumbai stood at 14,076.

As Maharashtra is anticipating a potential surge in the number of Covid-19 cases towards this month-end or in January 2021, the weekly positivity rate of Covid-19 infections in 13 districts, including Mumbai suburban district, Nashik, Pune district is higher than the state’s average of 7.57%. The cumulative positivity rate of 14 districts, however, is higher than the state’s average of 16.75%, according to the latest data of the health department. Positivity rate is a crucial indicator along with the doubling rate, case fatality rate (CFR), to show the spread of the infection.

According to the data, the state’s weekly positivity rate, as of December 1, was 7.57%, while Nashik district topped with 17.79%. This means for every 100 samples tested in Nashik district, nearly 18 people tested positive for the coronavirus. Nashik was followed by Gondia (13.53%), Ratnagiri had 12.92%, Pune had 10.21%, Thane had 9.33%, Mumbai suburban had 9.02%, etc.

Among the districts with positivity rate lower than the state’s average was Kolhapur with 0.62%, Dhule with 0.79%, and Jalgaon with 1.56%. The island city of Mumbai had a weekly positivity rate of 6.73%.

Mumbai’s overall positivity rate was 15.32%, according to the data of the state health department.

Maharashtra, which has the second-highest CFR in the country, has 17 districts in the state that have higher CFR than the state’s average of 2.58%.

Mumbai tops the list with highest CFR with 3.83%, followed by Akola at 3.68%, and Parbhani at 3.57%. Interestingly, Pune district that has the highest number of Covid-19 cases in the state (355,698), has a CFR of 2.11%. Thane district, which is the third-most affected district in the state at 242,509 cases, has a CFR of 2.21%.

Pune district, meanwhile, reported 793 fresh cases, with 360 from Pune city, 276 in rural Pune, and 157 in Pimpri-Chinchwad on Thursday. Pune city and rural areas of Pune reported eight and five fatalities, respectively. Nashik city reported 206 new cases, while its rural areas saw 166 and Malegaon reported eight new cases. Nagpur city reported 333 new cases and six deaths, while its rural areas saw 102 new cases and two deaths.

The state also reported 8,066 discharges, taking the tally of recovered patients to 1,703,274. The recovery rate in the state improved to 92.7%.

So far, the state has tested 11,059,305 samples and has an overall positivity rate of 16.61%. In the last 24 hours, the state tested 69,809 samples and clocked a positivity rate of 7.42%. Currently, 548,137 people are in home quarantine and 5,939 people are in institutional quarantine, the state health department said.