Maha registers biggest single-day spike

MUMBAI: Maharashtra on Sunday recorded a single-day jump of 1,943 Covid-19 cases, including most new cases in one day at 1,278 and 665 patients from the past few days as per the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) list, taking the state tally to 22,171.

Maharashtra also registered its highest one-day toll of 53 Covid-19 deaths on Sunday, which took the toll to 832. Mumbai crossed the 500-mark for Covid-19 fatalities as it recorded 19 deaths, taking its toll to 508.

Of the day’s cases, Mumbai accounted for 875, which is also the highest the city has recorded in a day. Total cases in Mumbai stand at 13,739. Pune recorded 402 new Covid-19 cases on Sunday, taking its count to 2,377.

Besides Mumbai, Pune and Jalgaon recorded five deaths each; three deaths were recorded in Dhule; and one each in VasaiVirar, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Ahmednagar, Aurangabad, Nandurbar, Solapur. In addition, 14 deaths were registered in Malegaon between Apr 27 and May 10. One person from Madhya Pradesh also died in Mumbai, the state health department said.

Maharashtra has recorded over 50% of its toll in the past 12 days. According to the data of the Medical Education and Drug Department, out of the 832 Covid-19 victims in the state, 432 or 51.92% of deaths were recorded between April 29 and May 10.

Even as the mortality rate has reduced from 7.12% on April 12 to 3.85% on May 9, the toll continued to rise. The Union health ministry, too, has expressed concern over the deaths in Maharashtra. State health minister Rajesh Tope said that besides comorbidities, late admission in the hospitals is one of the major reasons for the rise in death count.

Tope said that aggressive behavioural changes and communication exercises need to be taken for removing the stigma against reporting Covid-19. The minister said that around 30% of the deaths reportedly occurred between 24 to 48 hours of admission to the hospital.

“Comorbidity, as we know, is the major factor, but besides that, people today are scared of social boycott if their community gets to know that they have tested positive for coronavirus. Therefore, they do not report despite showing symptoms. Addressing this stigma would lead to people reporting early for diagnosis and treatment,” he said.

According to MEDD data, around 72% of the people who died had an underlying illness, while 28% of the people did not have comorbidities. The data also said that around 250 people are currently “critical” at various locations.