Number of new cases in state crosses 2,000+mark for 2nd successive day

For the second consecutive day, Maharashtra recorded more than 2,000 Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, of which 1,185 (including 23 deaths) were from Mumbai. On Monday, the state recorded 2,005 new infections and 51 deaths, taking the count to 35,058 and 1,249 deaths until now. The city now has a total of 21,335 cases, with 757 deaths.

There were eight deaths each in Navi Mumbai and Pune, three in Jalgaon, two each in Aurangabad, Ahmednagar, Nagpur City and one each in Bhiwandi and Palghar. One of the dead in Mumbai also included a resident of Bihar.

“Twenty-one of the patients who died on Monday were above 60 years of age, while 19 were in the 40-59 years age group and the remaining 11 were below 40 years of age. Thirty-five of them had highrisk co-morbidities, including diabetes, hypertension and heart ailments,” said state surveillance officer Dr Pradip Awate.

Additional Municipal Commissioner Suresh Kakani said, in Mumbai, of the 1,185 fresh cases added on Monday, 300 had been reported between May 12 and 16. “We are now seeing 800-900 positive cases every day on an average. It is important to note is that most cases are coming from the containment zones,” he said.

“Slum pockets have emerged as our biggest challenge as it’s difficult to get people to understand social distancing and hygiene practices,” he said, adding that many are also hiding symptoms and refusing to cooperate in door-to- door surveys, fearing being taken to quarantine facilities. In addition to house- to-house-surveys, BMC is now planning to send mobile X-ray vans into slums to detect early signs of pneumonia.

Meanwhile, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), New Delhi, has decided to conduct a community- based sero-survey in 69 districts of 21 states in the country. For this, the National Centre for Disease Control, New Delhi, the National Institute of Epidemiology and the National Institute for Research in Tuberculosis, Chennai, will provide technical support.

“Six of the 69 districts are from Maharashtra, including Ahmednagar, Beed, Jalgaon, Parbhani, Nanded and Sangli. Blood samples from random selections of 40 people each from 10 clusters (total 400) will be tested using the ELISA technique developed by the National Institute of Virology (NIV). Antibodies from blood serum will be detected in this way. This survey will help understand the spread of Covid-19,” said Dr Awate.