Maharashtra’s Covid-19 cases below 10,000 for fifth day in a row

For the fifth consecutive day, Maharashtra reported a daily Covid-19 caseload of under 10,000, with 7,539 new cases on Thursday. However, there are concerns about

For the fifth consecutive day, Maharashtra reported a daily Covid-19 caseload of under 10,000, with 7,539 new cases on Thursday. However, there are concerns about the case fatality rate (CFR), with some districts recording spikes in reported deaths. The state’s overall CFR has been constant at 2.64% for the last five days.

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Maharashtra’s tally of positive cases touched 1,625,197 on Thursday, of which 150,011 are active. The state also reported 198 deaths, pushing the death toll to 42,831. So far, 84,02,559 tests have been carried out in Maharashtra, of which 75,066 were conducted in the last 24 hours. The state’s positivity rate is 19.34%.

On Thursday, Mumbai reported 1,463 new cases of Covid-19, taking the city’s tally to 247,332, of which 17,505 are active cases. With 49 fatalities reported on Thursday, the city’s death toll stands at 9,961. There has been a gradual dip in reported cases from Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), which saw 1,302 new cases of Covid-19 on Thursday.

The rate of infection in Pune district has also decreased. On Thursday, the district reported 885 new cases of Covid-19 and 14 fatalities. Pune city reported 367 new cases, while its rural areas saw 343 new cases. Pimpri-Chinchwad reported 175 cases. Nagpur city reported 354 new cases and 13 deaths, while rural areas of Nagpur reported 122 new cases and seven fatalities.

Despite a steady decline in recorded cases, some districts in the state have seen a jump in Covid fatalities between September 15 and October 15. While the absolute number of deaths has gone down from 6,768 in the last two weeks of September to 4,534 in the first two weeks of October, CFR has spiked in some areas.

A health department official, requesting anonymity, said, “If the denominator [confirmed cases] is reducing, CFR will remain higher. CFR will gradually decrease. The positive here is that we are not reporting deaths in the range of 350-400, which we did in September.”

Districts such as Chandrapur, Gadchiroli, Sindhudurg, Satara have seen spikes in recorded deaths between September 15 and October 15. Sindhudurg had 42 deaths on September 15, which rose by 180% to 118 on October 15. Chandrapur had 62 deaths on September 15, which climbed to 203 in October 15 — a jump of 227%. Gadchiroli recorded a five-fold increase in the same period, with the number of deaths rising from five to 25.

“Some districts added their numbers late and therefore, it is seen during that period. Besides that, late tests and delayed admission in hospitals are also reasons for increase in deaths in rural parts,” said the health department official.

On Thursday, 16,177 patients were discharged, taking the total number of recovered Covid-19 patients in the state to 14,31,856. Maharashtra’s recovery rate is 88.10%.