Maharashtra’s Covid-19 case count rises by 15,591 to 1,416,513; toll is 37,480

The trend of Maharashtra witnessing comparatively low Covid-19 cases every day for the past two weeks continued on Friday as the state reported 15,591 infections,

The trend of Maharashtra witnessing comparatively low Covid-19 cases every day for the past two weeks continued on Friday as the state reported 15,591 infections, taking the tally to 1,416,513. The state was routinely reporting more than 20,000 daily in the beginning of September.

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The state’s toll rose to 37,480 with an addition of 424 fatalities on Friday.

However, of these, 272 deaths were reported in the past 48 hours, 65 were from last week and 87 from the period before that. Active Covid-19 cases in Maharashtra stood at 260,876, 18.41% of the state’s overall cases.

Although the daily caseload is low, state officials are wary that there could be a surge in infections after fresh relaxations come into effect from October 5. Officials said cases have increased every time lockdown restrictions have been eased since June 3.

The state has allowed restaurants and bars to reopen from October 5, but run at 50% of their capacity.

The government has also allowed all industrial and manufacturing units of non-essential units in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) to start operations. Trains beginning and ending their journey within the state have been allowed to run from Wednesday.

A senior health department official, on condition of anonymity, said they won’t be surprised if a surge in cases in witnessed again. “Cases go up rapidly after relaxations are implemented. This is because relaxations allow more people to step out of their homes and they are exposed to the virus and ultimately they get infected,” said the official. “This doesn’t mean relaxations shouldn’t be given, as we cannot expect people to confine themselves to their homes for months.”

Since June 3, when the government began easing lockdown restrictions under its ‘Mission Begin Again’, the state has reported 1,341,653 cases till October 2, as against 74,860 infections reported from March 9 – when the first case was reported – till June 3.

In June, the state recorded 102,172 cases, July saw 247,392 cases, August 371,238 cases, and 593,192 cases were reported in September.

Meanwhile, even as the daily caseload as reduced, the number of fatalities in Maharashtra have continued to be high. Maharashtra has the highest Covid-19 toll across the country, with Tamil Nadu a distant second with 9,586 deaths (as on Thursday).

In terms of case fatality rate (CFR) Maharashtra is second behind Punjab. While the state’s CFR is 2.65%, Punjab had a rate of 3% (as on Thursday).