Maharashtra sees 8,151 new Covid cases, caps prices of masks

A day after reporting its lowest single-day spike in Covid-19 cases (5,984) in 104 days, Maharashtra on Tuesday recorded a slightly higher 8,151 infections, pushing

A day after reporting its lowest single-day spike in Covid-19 cases (5,984) in 104 days, Maharashtra on Tuesday recorded a slightly higher 8,151 infections, pushing the count to 1,609,516. After a steady fall for over a month, active cases have also slightly increased to 174,265. It comes to 10.82% of the total cases reported so far. On Monday, active cases reported were 173,759.

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Meanwhile, the Maharashtra government has fixed rates for masks — double and triple layer one would be available between ₹3 and ₹4, while N95 masks can be sold between ₹19 and ₹49, according to an announcement by state health minister Rajesh Tope. Maharashtra will be the first state to cap prices of masks in the country.

On Tuesday, the Covid-19 death toll went up to 42,453 after 213 casualties were reported. Of them, 144 were in the past 48 hours and the rest 69 deaths were from the period before last week, health officials said. Maharashtra has continued to get relatively fewer fresh infections compared to last month. This has resulted in a drop of 127,487 active cases over a month. On September 17, the state’s figure of active cases had reached 301,752.

“The situation is definitely improving and it is a positive sign. Despite projections of a surge in cases, the infection rate of the state is on decline since the last four weeks. But maintaining this trend is more important, considering the festive season. If people become careless while celebrating festivals and don’t follow social- distancing norms, then the situation will overturn in no time. It’s all up to the people on what they want,” said a senior health official, wishing not to be named.

In terms of Covid-19 cases, the current situation is quite similar to what it was in August. In the first 20 days of August, the state clocked 221,610 cases, which is close to 226,224 cases recorded in October so far. However, compared to the number of casualties, the state is in a much better position at present. Between August 1 and 20, 6,365 deaths were reported, whereas this month’s tally is 5,578 casualties.

Public health expert Sanjay Pattiwar, too, was of the view that festive season may push the state back. “Lockdown will have to go and that’s where the problem lies. Now, discipline by the people at large is going to play a significant role as the state is relaxing most of the restrictions and many festivals are also lined up. All these are likely to contribute, which could ultimately lead to a rise in Covid-19 cases,” Pattiwar said.

“For now, we have to keep our fingers crossed. We have to monitor the situation at least for two incubation periods (each of 14 days), which comes to around one month. In my view, if the trend of low count continues till November end then only we can say that things have come under control,” he added.

Mumbai recorded 1,091 fresh cases and 45 deaths, taking the total number of cases in the city to 244,260 and total deaths to 9,864. The number of active cases in the city has come down to 19,553.

On Tuesday, Nagpur city recorded 874, second-highest number of cases across the state, pushing its case count to 74,427.Pune district contributed third-highest infections in the daily caseload as it recorded 605 cases, taking its tally to 73,882.Along with fresh cases, the state is also experiencing a decline in Covid-19 casualties. However, Maharashtra still has the highest number of casualties across the country.

State’s CFR was recorded at 2.64% and is at second position after Punjab in the country. The CFR of Punjab was 3.15% (with 4,029 deaths) till Monday, according to the information shared by the state medical education department.

On Tuesday, the state has conducted 65,456 tests and total tests conducted till date are 8,251,234. The state’s overall positivity rate stood at 19.51%.

The number of recovered patients also reached close to the 14-lakh mark as 7,429 recoveries were recorded in the last 24 hours, taking the tally up to 1,392,308. The recovery rate was recorded at 86.5%.

On the capping of mask prices, the determined prices will be applicable to all manufacturing companies, distributors, and retail sellers till Epidemic Diseases Act is enforced in the state. They also have been mandated to put up a board specifying minimum prices of the masks, Tope said.

The state has already made wearing of a mask mandatory at public places and has also found that mask manufacturing companies are charging much higher than the regular prices.

Following this, the state has formed a four-member committee headed by Sudhakar Shinde, chief executive officer, state health assurance society, to determine prices of various types of masks and give its recommendations. The committee has submitted its report recently.

The state has also mandated manufacturers to supply masks at 70% rate of the maximum prices fixed by the state to all the government and private hospitals, nursing homes, Covid centres, dedicated Covid centres etc. Private hospitals have also been barred to charge 110% the procured price from patients.

Maharashtra has already capped rates of all types of Covid-19 tests, Covid treatment at private hospitals and ambulances run by private operators.