Hindustan Times ST (Mumbai) - HT Navi Mumbai Live
Festive season sees 1K hike in Covid cases in 10 days
THANE: Thane district has seen an increase in the active Covid cases from 6,070 on August 10 to 6,911 on September 1 and 7,852 on September 10. The active cases have taken a leap of around 1,000 cases in merely 10 days in the district.
The positivity rate has also increased from 1.3% to 1.7% overall in the district. However, Thane district’s weekly testing has dropped by 10.8% from 1,28,321 tests to 1,14,454 tests in the last two weeks.
The spike is in cities like Kalyan-Dombivli, Navi Mumbai and Thane and not in rural areas. Markets within MMR have noticed an increase in crowds owing to the relaxation of rules and the festive season.
Dr Manish Renge, district health officer, Thane, said, “With the relaxation of rules, the number of cases may increase. We have increased testing of blood samples this year for monsoonrelated ailments. This will help in easily identifying Covid and non-Covid symptoms. Efforts to curb new cases are under way in every civic body.”
Throughout August, Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) had seen a decline in positive cases from an average 67 daily positive cases in the first week to 51 daily positive cases in the last week. Similarly, Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC) had around an average 48 daily positive cases in the last week of August. Rural areas of the district saw a steep decline from 64 daily positive cases to 27 daily positive cases last month.
However, in September, TMC saw daily positive cases spike to 80 on September 1, the cases continue to range between 50 and 60 daily positive cases in the first week of September. KDMC’s cases spiked to 113 on Sep 4 and 86 on Sep 7. Rural areas saw a gradual increase from 39 daily positive cases on Sep 1 to 53 cases on Sep 7.
Vipin Sharma, TMC commissioner, said, “We have currently reached the same base as we had during the end of the first wave. The positivity rate has been constantly at 2.5% in the city. For now, our focus is to get vaccinated as much as possible.”
In Navi Mumbai, August had an overall average of around 47-50 cases per day. However, in the first 10 days of September, the daily average cases have seen a 14% surge with an average of around 55 cases daily and recovery rate going down by 10% with an average of 55 recovery cases. As per the civic officials, till the per-day cases do not cross 100, it can’t be considered as going high.