Maha tally crosses 200k after biggest spike
MUMBAI: Maharashtra’s coronavirus disease (Covid-19) case count rose to 200,064 on Saturday, with the biggest single-day increase of 7,074, even as the death toll in the state due to the outbreak climbed to 8,671, according to official data.
The number of those who have recovered from the infectious disease in the state rose to 1,08,082, taking the recovery rate to 54.02%. There are 83,295 active cases in the state.
Of the 295 deaths added on Saturday, 124 occurred in the last 48 hours – 68 of them in Mumbai. Of remaining deaths, 163 in Thane district took place over the last three months but were recorded as fatalities only on Saturday.
Mumbai recorded 1,163 new cases, taking its tally to 83,237.
Amit Deshmukh, Maharashtra’s medical education minister, said the state health infrastructure was ready to tackle the rising cases. “With antigen, antibody tests taken to every district and plasma banks being set up across the state, the virus spread is expected to be contained in next one month... The rise in the cases is because of the opening up of the activities and compromised social distancing norms. There is rise in numbers of few districts besides Mumbai Metropolitan Region, but we are taking care to reduce the spread. We have set up task force in every district and advice by epidemiologists and virologists is made available to the rural patients with co-morbidities,” he said.
He said July and August are months and the government expects a decline in the cases in a month. “We have witnessed decline in the cases in Mumbai. Similar will be the trend in other parts,” he said.
Dr Om Shrivastava, infectious diseases specialist and member of the 11-member task force appointed by the state governcrucial ment for the clinical management of critically ill patients, said: “The rise in the number of cases is the result of the aggressive testing. Same is the reason for the positivity rate… The spread is expected to stabilise in the next few weeks and our infrastructure is ready to take up the load of rising cases.” Public health consultant Dr Sanjay Pattiwar said the pattern of the curve was difficult to predict. “We should not be worried about rising numbers if we are ready with infrastructure. State authorities should go for aggressive testing and tracing, besides sensitising people about curbs and personal community hygiene.”