State crosses 200,000 Covid recoveries; tally is 366,368

Maharashtra clocked over 9,000 Covid-19 cases for the fourth consecutive day with 9,251 new infections on Saturday pushing the tally to 366,368, but the state also

Maharashtra clocked over 9,000 Covid-19 cases for the fourth consecutive day with 9,251 new infections on Saturday pushing the tally to 366,368, but the state also crossed a positive mark of 2 lakh recoveries. So far, 207,194 patients have recovered from the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) across the state, making the recovery rate 56.55%, while the number of active cases touched 145,481. Maharashtra also recorded 257 new fatalities, which took the toll to 13,389.

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Mumbai, meanwhile, on Saturday crossed a grim mark of 6,000 fatalities after recording 52 deaths, which took the toll to 6,036. Mumbai recorded 1,080 new cases, taking the financial capital’s tally to 108,060. The city has 22,854 active cases.

Maharashtra recorded 191,907 Covid-19 cases in July and is expected to amass 2 lakh cases this month within a day or two, looking at the trend of daily new cases. The state had recorded 107,106 cases in June alone.

Although the daily caseload is on the upward trend, state health minister Rajesh Tope said that they were not worried about the rising numbers as nearly 97% of the patients recover. He said that their focus is reducing the case fatality rate (CFR) of the state. Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on Friday directed officials to work at bringing the CFR down to zero. The CFR of the state stood at 3.65%.

“The positives in the current scenario are that over 2 lakh people have recovered so far. Yes, cases are going up in some districts. At some places, the curve is flattening, [the situation in] Mumbai is stabilising. Dharavi and Malegaon are reporting zero cases almost. Now, the situation in every district is improving. The [daily] figures can go up, but we are focused on keeping the CFR in check. For the treatment, we have increased the availability of beds, we have also sought the help of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) to provide doctors,” Tope said.

The minister said that he spoke to the heads of three pharmaceutical companies — Hetero, Cipla, and Mylan — that manufacture anti-viral drugs remdesivir and tocilizumab, on providing adequate quantities of them to the state government. “We have floated tenders worth Rs20.57 crore for remdesivir and tocilizumab. District collectors have been provided the funds for it. The collectors must place orders as per their requirements and the heads of these companies have assured me that it will be supplied in three to five days,” Tope told reporters in Aurangabad.

Thackeray, meanwhile, said that the administration should remain alert in this fight against the rising spread of Covid-19 in parts of the state. Thackeray, on Saturday, inaugurated two Covid care facilities in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), where the cases have been increasing over the past month now. With lockdown imposed in most of the municipal corporation areas within the MMR, the situation is now gradually coming under control, state health department officials said.

In the last eight days, MMR, excluding Mumbai, has been recording an average of 2,458 cases daily. Between July 18 and July 25, MMR has added 19,666 cases, stretching the health infrastructure in the region. The total number of active cases in the MMR now stands at 46,554.

With the cases continue to rise in the MMR, Thackeray said that “carelessness and laxity” will not work. He said that only erecting big centres and facilities will not work, but the focus should be on providing better health facilities, medical services, adequate supply of oxygen cylinders is also a must.

Thackeray was speaking to officials, while inaugurating a testing laboratory in Kalyan and a dedicated Covid Care Centre in Dombivli. The CCC in Dombivli has a capacity of 400 beds, including 300 oxygenated beds and 20 ICU beds. The lab, set up on a PPP basis in Kalyan, has a capacity to conduct 3,000 tests a day. Earlier, Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC) would send swab samples to a laboratory in Mumbai or Thane and the test results would come after two-three days. Now, officials expect reports within 12 hours of testing.

Kalyan-Dombvli, the twin cities, have reported a chunk of the cases within MMR and has surpassed Thane city to become the most affected city in MMR, after Mumbai. With 451 new cases on Saturday, Kalyan-Dombivli touched 20,700 cases.

“Till an effective medicine comes, we have to remain more alert. We cannot afford to be careless or lax. Check the line of treatment going on [at your location] with the [Covid] Task Force. Defeating the coronavirus is a challenge for us all, but we can do it collectively,” he said.

Pune contributed the most number of cases recorded by a city or a district with 1,913 new cases, pushing the tally to 49,370. It also recorded 45 new fatalities, which took its toll to 1,248. Pimpri-Chinchwad, another hotspot in the Pune district, recorded 866 new cases. The satellite city of Pune now has 16,122 total cases.

Aurangabad city recorded 238 new cases, which took the tally to 8631. Tope who took a review of the measures in the city said that the situation in Aurangabad city was under control. “The doubling rate, which is an important parameter, is now 26 days. It has come down from 14 days last month. Aurangabad has so far tested 1 lakh samples, which is a crucial step for early detection,” he told reporters in Aurangabad.

The health minister added that the state government had amended the rules for recruitment to fill 17,000 vacant posts in the health department. “These posts will be now filled on merit. The recruitment rules have been amended; now there is no need for an interview etc; the chief minister has signed the proposal. The applications have come in the mega recruitment drive. We will fill the posts on merit in the next few days,” Tope said. The state government is going to purchase 500 ambulances, he added.

The minister appealed to people that asymptomatic Covid-19 patients should not occupy beds in the hospitals. He added that asymptomatic patients who get admitted to hospitals will not be covered under the Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Jan Arogya Yojana, the state’s medical insurance scheme. He also reiterated that auditors have been appointed to verify the bills at private hospitals and therefore, there will not be any complaints about overcharging.

Maharashtra has tested 1,836,920 samples so far and has an overall positivity rate of 19.94%. Currently, 8,94,509 people are in home quarantine and 44,603 people are in institutional quarantine.