For fifth day in a row, 3,000+ new cases in state

For the fifth consecutive day, there were 3,000+ new corona cases reported in the state. On Monday, there were 3,721 cases with 113 deaths, bringing the toll to 1,35,796 in Maharashtra, including 6,283 deaths.

“Sixty-two of the 113 deaths occurred in the last 48 hours, while 51 deaths are from the preceding period. These include 46 deaths in Mumbai, two each in Vasai-Virar, Raigad and 1 in KalyanDombivli,” said State Surveillance Officer Dr Pradip Awate.

According to the public health department of the BMC, there were 1,098 corona cases and 66 deaths in the city on Sunday, bringing the total count to 67,586, with 3,737 deaths until now. The mortality rate for the city is 5.52 per cent.

“Twenty of the 66 deaths occurred in the last 48 hours, while 46 were before June 19, which has been added to the progressive count. However, 40 patients had co-morbidities,” said Dr Daksha Shah, executive health officer, BMC.

The weekly growth rate of new cases in Mumbai is 1.88 per cent, with cases now doubling in 37 days. On Monday, 863 people with suspected Covid symptoms were admitted to various government centres in Mumbai.

Additional Municipal Commissioner Suresh Kakani said that reports of previous unreported deaths have been pouring in for some days. “We may see a slight jump in death figures because of this backlog of deaths being added. We are trying to plot the figures against individual deaths and trying to determine the days when the maximum number of deaths occurred,” he said.

The BMC claims its aggressive ‘Chase The Virus’ strategy has resulted in the city’s average doubling rate going up to 36 days, thus limiting the spread of infection. However, the doubling rate in certain parts of the city is lesser than the city average. Keeping this in mind, the civic body has decided to implement a rapid action plan in areas like Mulund, Bhandup, Andheri, Malad, Borivli, Dahisar and Kandivli. “With the aim of bringing down the number of positive cases in the city to zero, ‘Mission Zero’ was launched on Monday at the Shahaji Raje Bhosale Sports Complex, Andheri. Under this ambitious project, 50 mobile dispensary vans will go to different areas to conduct preliminary check-ups and identify patients,” said an official.

Also, with the onset of monsoon, the plan is particularly critical for timely detection and treatment of patients with coronavirus and other ailments. All Covid suspects will then be immediately isolated and swab tests conducted in the same area. This will lead to early detection and timely treatment of those infected. At the same time, public awareness will also be created to empower citizens with correct information regarding the virus.