At 46,197, Maha reports slightly higher cases

Mumbai Maharashtra registered 46,197 cases, a marginal rise from 43,697 on Wednesday. However, the number of deaths fell from 49 to 37. Meanwhile, calling on people to overcome vaccine hesitancy and get themselves inoculated against Covid, public health minister Rajesh Tope denied that the number of tests had declined reflecting a fall in positivity numbers.

“We have not reduced testing, nor do we have any plans to do so,” said Tope. Maharashtra’s capacity to conduct RT-PCR tests was around 2,00,000 daily, and this was being utilised. Instructions had also been given to increase the number of Rapid Antigen Tests (RAT). People who showed symptoms of Covid purchased RAT self-test kits from chemists and reported themselves to the local authorities in case they tested positive.

The positivity in Maharashtra was around 23 per cent, with districts like Nashik, Raigad, Pune and Nanded having a higher rate of positivity. “The numbers have not declined drastically,” he noted, adding that however, despite the higher positivity in some areas, just around four to five per cent of ICU, ventilator, oxygen and isolation beds had been occupied. Around 87 per cent of patients had home quarantined themselves and were being given symptomatic treatment.

The health minister said that while the first dose coverage was around 90 per cent, around 70 to 80 lakh people were yet to take this first dose. The second dose coverage was 60 per cent, and these numbers of people who had been vaccinated fully needed to be boosted. Tope noted that some people who were due for their second dose of the vaccine had not come forth to get it.

Tope said that the kin of around 1 lakh patients who had lost their lives to Covid had been given an ex-gratia of Rs 50,000. The state has seen over 1.41 lakh deaths due to the virus.

On Thursday, 125 patients with the Omicron variant were reported in Maharashtra, and all of them were from Pune.