Maha crosses grim mark of 100,000 Covid-19 deaths

MUMBAI: Maharashtra on Sunday went past the grim mark of 100,000 Covid-19 fatalities, 15 months (447 days) after it recorded its first death due to the virus on March 17, 2020. Maharashtra, which added 618 deaths (including 385 as part of reconciliation of figures) to its tally on Sunday, contributes nearly 29% (28.87%) to the country’s Covid-19 fatality count .

If Maharashtra were a country, it would have ranked 10th in the world, just after France (109,973 deaths) and before Colombia (91,422), in terms of Covid-19 deaths, according to data collated by worldometer, as of 11.30pm. The United States of America (612,209) tops the list of fatalities, followed by Brazil (472,629). India ranks third (346,784). In India, the gap between the state with the most fatalities and the second-most affected state is 68,800 fatalities. Karnataka, as per the data of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, ranks second with 31,260 fatalities.

The state breached the 10,000mark in Covid-19 fatalities on July 11, 2020 (see box), and went on to cross an additional 10,000 every month till it crossed the 40,000-mark on October 10, 2020. As the first wave receded, the deaths were fewer between October and January.

It took 91 days to go from 40,000 to 50,000 deaths, which happened on January 9, 2021. Subsequently, it took 99 days to cross the 60,000 mark. In the past 50 days alone, the state had added nearly 40,000 deaths. On April 18, the state breached the 60,000 mark in Covid deaths. Since then, it has added 39,657 fatalities. State bureaucrats, officials and experts attributed the high number of deaths to more Covid-19 cases and transparent reporting of data.