Maha Covid toll crosses 13,000; tally now 357,117

NEW DELHI/BEIJING: Differences between India and China on the disengagement process along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) spilled into the open on Friday, with New Delhi calling on Beijing to “sincerely implement” all understandings on troop withdrawals reached by senior military commanders.

MUMBAI: Covid-19 deaths in Maharashtra breached the 13,000 mark with the addition of 278 fatalities on Friday, taking the toll to 13,132.

The rise in deaths is becoming a cause for concern for Maharashtra, which leads the country in Covid-19 casualties, too, along with infections. As many as 5,126 deaths have been reported this month, as against 5,638 in June, 2,286 in May, 449 in April and 10 in March, when the first case was reported. While on an average, the state has reported 213 deaths per day, Friday was the 18th day it recorded more than 200 deaths.

The state’s case count reached 357,117 after 9,615 infections were recorded on Friday. This has pushed the tally of active cases to 143,714, according to the state health department. Friday was the fourth day the state recorded more than 9,000 cases.

Meanwhile, Mumbai has maintained stability in the number of fresh cases and deaths with 1,057 and 54 respectively. Its case count stood at 106,989 with 22,443 active infections, while its toll rose to 5,984. While Mumbai saw the most Covid-19 deaths in the state on Friday, it was followed by Pune city at 49, Pimpri-Chinchwad 17, Mira-Bhayander 16 and Kalyan-Dombivli 13. The state’s case fatality rate (CFR) was recorded at 3.68%, a drop from 4.72% on June 24. It continued to be second-highest in the country after Gujarat where the CFR was 4.29% with 2,252 deaths (52,477 cases) till Thursday.

Dr Om Shrivastava, infectious diseases specialist and member of the 11-member task force appointed by the state government for clinically ill patients, pointed out two reasons behind the deaths — delayed treatment and some areas may not be fully prepared to fight the pandemic.

“Patients having symptoms found to have delayed the treatment, which results in complications, is the first reason behind Covid casualties. We also have to admit that there may be some centres that are not entirely equipped to understand the urgency of the disease,” Dr Shrivastava said.

SATISH BATE/HT Health workers screen a Khar resident on Friday.