Daily caseload dips below 5,000 in state

MUMBAI: Maharashtra reported 4,365 new Covid-19 cases on Friday, marking a dip below 5,000 daily cases. Over the past few weeks, daily caseload in the state hovered around 5,200-5500. The total case tally now stands at 6,415,935 and the death toll at 135,672 after 105 deaths were reported on Friday.

Mumbai reported 319 new cases and six deaths pushing tally to 740,608 and toll to 15,941.

While most parts of the state decline in the cases, six districts accounted for 63.25% of the daily caseload and 56.51% of active cases on Friday. As many as 63.25% or 2,761 cases reported on Friday were from six of the 36 districts — Pune, Ahmednagar, Solapur, Kolhapur, Beed and Sangli. These districts also account for 56.51% or 31,339 of the total 55,454 active cases.

The state administration expects the high number of cases in these districts to fall in coming days and has directed district administrations to go for aggressive tracing and testing of suspected contacts.

Pune continues to report high number of cases and registered the highest cases at 882 on Friday. Three other Western Maharashtra districts — Ahmednagar, Solapur and Sangli — reported 614, 422 and 555 cases, respectively. Kolhapur and Beed logged 187 and 101 cases. Meanwhile, Satara reported the highest deaths at 17, followed by 11 each in Sangli and Solapur and 10 in Ratnagiri.

“We have witnessed a fall in cases in some of the districts like Raigad, Palghar, Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg over the past few weeks. Similarly, other districts which are still reporting a high number of cases are expected to see a downward trend in the next few weeks. Some of the districts which could have controlled the number of cases in the past few weeks have very weak health infrastructure. District administrations in Ahmednagar, Kolhapur and Sangli have good infrastructure, but lag in tracing, isolation and testing. They have been directed to not lower the guard,” said an official from health department.

Dr Subhash Salunkhe, state government’s advisor on Covid-19, said, “Until the existing variant of virus does not mutate and is highly virulent, we can expect a fall in cases in the next two to four weeks even in the districts with high number of cases... People are not following Covid-appropriate behaviour. On the other hand, the activities have been opened up. These factors could also lead to rise in the number of cases in near future.”

The state has 55,454 active cases. With 4,365 of the 206,848 samples testing positive on Friday, the daily positivity rate was 2.11%. The overall positivity rate of Maharashtra stands at 12.36%, while case fatality rate stands at 2.11%.