Seven deaths, 88 more cases in Maha; count rises to 423

Maharashtra recorded 88 coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases on Thursday and seven deaths, the highest in a day, as the state revved up its machinery to combat the

Maharashtra recorded 88 coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases on Thursday and seven deaths, the highest in a day, as the state revved up its machinery to combat the pandemic, including sealing off high-risk areas and aggressively applying the 3-T formula (trace, test and treat) for suspected cases.

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As of Thursday, Maharashtra’s coronavirus case tally stood at 423, the highest in the country. Of the new cases, 54 are in Mumbai, 11 in Pune, 9 in Ahmednagar, 9 in MMR (excluding Mumbai), two in Aurangabad, one each in Satara, Osmanabad and Buldhana.

The state health department, however, said the number includes cases diagnosed by private laboratories over the past few days and which were confirmed by the state on Thursday. Of the state’s 20 deaths, 17 are in Mumbai, while Pune, Buldhana and MMR (excluding Mumbai) reported a death each.

“The total new cases in Mumbai today are 17, while the remaining were from the past few days. Most of them are from private aboratories. State authorities have confirmed them today,” said an official from the state health department.

Of the deaths, one was of a 61-year-old male at Nair hospital with underlying illness of blood cancer. Another 58-year-old male patient, who died in Sion hospital, had high blood pressure and was admitted to the hospital on March 29. Another 58-year male patient died in a private hospital. A 63-year male patient died in Kasturba hospital.

The spike in cases, which has been attributed majorly to the Tablighi Jamaat programme, has forced the state government to press the alarm button. The state government has asked local authorities — district collectors and municipal commissioners — to identify areas where there is a high risk for Covid-19 spread and contain them. Tope said the state government has identified 1,300 of the 1,400 people linked to the programme and they have been kept in isolation. “We have traced them to their respective districts after we received a list from the Centre. We have all details about them and the people who came in contact with them,” he said.

During a video conference with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday, Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray apprised him about the major decisions being taken by the state government. Modi hinted at not extending the 21-day lockdown period beyond April 14. When Thackeray asked about how the states should maintain the situation after the 21-day lockdown, Modi said that the state government should not lift the lockdown immediately from April 15, but it should happen in phases and depending on the severity of the outbreak in the state.

The Prime Minister also advised states to desist from announcing relief packages to gain publicity. “Don’t announce the packages to gain publicity. This is a serious fight and there should be co-ordination among all states. It may be given publicity in newspapers for few days, but the corona crisis is much bigger in reality,” said the PM.

Apart from chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, the video conference was attended by Tope, home minister Anil Deshmukh, environment and tourism minister Aaditya Thackeray and state government officials.

Tope added that the Prime Minister has also asked the state to focus more on tracing, tracking, testing, and treatment. “The PM has asked us to use drones, GPS or any other technology to track the movement of quarantined people to prevent the spread of coronavirus,” said Tope, adding that the PM has asked the state to observe strict curfew in containment areas without any lapse.

Thursday saw 648 more people admitted with the coronvirus symptoms. Until Thursday, 10,873 tests have been conducted in various laboratories, of which, 10,280 have tested negative, while 423 are positive. 42 patients have been discharged from the hospitals, while 38,244 are home quarantined. 2,138 are in institutional quarantine.

Of the 1,062 people who had links with the Tablighi Jamaat programme organised in a masjid in Nizamuddin in Delhi, 890 have been identified and 576 from them have been admitted in isolation wards. Four of them — two each from Pimpri-Chinchwad and Ahmednagar — have tested positive.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra has set up 30 new hospitals dedicated to treating Covid-19 patients, with a total bed capacity of 2,305. Tope said the total capacity of the sample tests for coronavirus has increased to 5,000 a day. The Central government has also been requested for an adequate supply of equipment required for the treatment of Covid-19 patients. According to officials from the health department, the Central government is not supplying Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) kits, N-95 masks in adequate numbers. Against the demand of one lakh masks and PPEs, the Maharashtra got only about 2,000, a couple of days ago.

The minister said, “We have sought availability of PPE kits, N-95 masks, ventilators as quality equipment were not available in the market. We will not play with the safety of our healthcare workers, therefore, we will need to augment the capacity of the manufacturing of these machines and devices or give encouragement to the manufacturer to set up [units] at a new place,” Tope said.

Despite repeated appeals, people are flocking to vegetable markets and grocery shops, for which the state government is expected to take drastic steps. After shutting down vegetable markets that saw crowding in the past few days, the state government is expected to tweak its policy for grocery shops and departmental stores. State health minister Tope hinted that the state is considering keeping the markets and shops open on alternate days, so as to reduce the crowds at these places.

The state government has once again appealed to migrant workers to not attempt to travel to their respective states and assured to take care of their stay, meals and health services. There are about 3.25 lakh migrants, including workers, employees and students, put up in 3,000 shelters that have been set up across the state.

On Thursday, five new cases of Covid-19 were reported from Kalyan and Dombivli, taking the total number of positive cases to 19 in the twin cities.

Of the five, three attended the wedding in Dombivli on March 19. One from Dombivli (East) was infected after coming in contact with them. Kalyan has reported one case.

The four people from Dombivli are at Kasturba Hospital in Mumbai and the one from Kalyan has been admitted to a private hospital.

Out of the 19 cases, seven have been traced to the wedding in Dombivli, which was attended by a 25-year-old infected man who had come from Turkey.

Kalyan has three positive cases till now and one has recovered after treatment, said civic officials.

The Dombivli police have prepared a list of those who attended the wedding and have asked the civic body to trace them.

“Most parts of Dombivli (East) have been sealed. We have also stopped the entry and exit of private vehicles. We are continuously surveying all buildings in which people tested positive were found and also sending those suspected for testing,” said a civic official.

Thane reported two Covid-19 positive cases on Thursday.

The 48-year-old general practitioner who tested positive does not have any travel history and Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) suspects he might have contracted it from a patient. The civic body is tracing all patients he has come in contact with.

The doctor has been admitted to Thane civil hospital, which has a separate isolation ward. An official from TMC said, “The doctor has a clinic in Kajuvadi and must have come in contact with more than 100 patients in the past four days. His wife and son are home quarantined.”

A total of 13 people from Thane have tested positive for coronavirus till now.

The official added, “We were trying to shift the doctor to Kasturba Hospital in Mumbai or any big hospital in Mumbai but, there was no bed available.”

The other case, 59-year-old man, is from Kalwa. TMC said he does not have any travel history.

As many as 40 medical staffers from Shatabdi hospital, Kandivli, have been quarantined at ESIC hospital after they unknowingly came in a direct contact with a COVID-19 patient. “The patient was admitted for some other ailment but later, after getting discharged, got diagnosed with coronavirus. So, we have quarantined the people who were in direct contact with him,” said Dr Pramod Nagarkar, medical superintendent of the hospital.

Currently, four coronavirus patients are undergoing treatment at the hospital where BMC has constructed a 90 bed Covid-19 isolation facility. The non-emergency and OPD at the hospital has been closed down for 14 days.

Also, a 57-year-old head constable from Worli has tested positive for COVID-19. A senior IPS officer from city police confirmed with HT that on Thursday the police were informed by the civic authority about the head constable testing positive. The policeman along with his wife and two kids have now been kept in isolation. On March 19, the head constable’s brother admitted at the Sion hospital for some ailment. “The policeman had been visiting his brother at this hospital, where most of the COVID-19 suspects from Dharavi area are rushing to,” an officer said.

(with inputs from Sajana Nambiar, Megha Pol and Vijay Kumar Yadav)