At 248, state records highest one-day deaths so far

There were 248 corona deaths reported in the state on Tuesday, the highest number of singleday deaths so far. However, there was a drop in the number of new corona cases as compared to the day before, with 3,214 cases being reported in the last 24 hours. The overall count is now 1,39,010, with 6,531 deaths. “Seventy-five of the 248 deaths occurred in the last 48 hours, while 173 deaths are from the period before that. These include 65 deaths in Mumbai, followed by 42 in Solapur, 15 in Aurangabad, 13 in Thane, 18 in Nashik, seven in Jalgaon, three in Mira-Bhayandar, two in Kalyan-Dombivli and Ratnagiri and one each in Amravati,Buldana, Malegaon,Pimpri-Chinchwad, Sangli and Satara,” said State Surveillance Officer Dr Pradip Awate.

According to the public health department of the BMC, there were 846 corona cases and 107 deaths in the city on Tuesday, bringing the total count in the city to 68,481, with 3,844 deaths until now. The mortality rate for the city is 5.61 per cent. “Forty-two of the 107 deaths occurred in the last 48 hours, while 65 were from the previous period. However, 79 patients had co-morbidities,” said Dr Daksha Shah, executive health officer, BMC. Meanwhile, on Tuesday, 828 people with suspected Covid symptoms were admitted to various government centres in Mumbai.

Dr Sanjay Oak, who heads a taskforce of doctors constituted by the government for the clinical management of critically ill patients, said they were going to focus on reducing the fatality rate. “We are not scared of positive cases, as they can be controlled. We have controlled them in Mumbai. Early identification, treatment and application of the appropriate drugs is the key to treatment.

Af ter introducing plasma therapy and using tocilizumab, now we are pushing for remdesivir and other drugs that have proved useful in treating Covid-19. We will focus completely on reducing the CFR in the state. The idea of field hospitals has paid off well, as we are ready with adequate beds and can take on more patients,” he said.

The number of new cases in the city is currently growing at 1.86 per cent. However, in at least five wards – Mulund, Dahisar, Borivli, Goregaon and Bandra west – there has been a more than three per cent growth rate in weekly cases. In Mulund and Borivli west, cases are doubling in19 days while in Mumbai, it is 38 days.