For second time in week, cases cross 8,000-mark

For the second time this week, there were more than 8,000 new corona cases reported in the state on Thursday, with 8,641 cases and 266 fatalities in the last 24 hours, for a total positive count of 2,84,289, with 11,194 deaths so far. This is the highest number of single-day cases and deaths reported so far, the previous high being 8,139 cases and 248 deaths reported on July 11 and June 23 respectively.

The overall count of cases in Maharashtra is expected to cross the threelakh mark by the weekend.

Meanwhile, Pune Municipal Corporation reported 1,584 cases on Thursday, slightly more than Mumbai, taking its progressive count to 33,680, with 957 deaths so far. In Mumbai, there were 1,498 cases - the highest number in 14 days - and 56 deaths in the last 24 hours. The total positive count increased to 97,751, with 5,520 deaths until now.

The number of those recovered in the state has increased to 1,58,140 lakh, with 5,537 patients being sent home on Thursday.

The case fatality rate of the state too dipped marginally on Thursday, dropping below 4 per cent for the first time in two months; however, Mumbai’s fatality rate continued to be close to 6 per cent.

Of the 266 deaths, 181 were from the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), 38 in Pune, 20 in Nashik division, 10 in Latur, nine in Akola, five in Aurangabad division and three in Kolhapur.

State Surveillance Officer Dr Pradeep Awate attributed this rise to the increased Covid testing and lockdown relaxation.

Currently, there are 126 diagnostic labs, resulting in increased daily testing, currently at 36,000, double that in the first week of July. “There has been a growth of 40 per cent in Covid testing. On Thursday, we conducted 36,500 tests across the state, following which the total number of tests is now over 14 lakh,” he said.

Civic officials said that tertiary hospitals have begun floor meetings and rigorous discussions on critical cases, to bring down deaths. “The aim is to bring down the rate to 3 per cent and subsequently, to 1 per cent,” said an official. So far, a total of 14.46 lakh tests have been conducted in the state, of which nearly 20 per cent were positive. There are 7.10 lakh people across the state who are in home quarantine and over 43, 000 are in institutional quarantine. There have been directions from the Central government asking the state to increase the number of people in institutional quarantine so that a large number of high-risk contacts can be tested and treated early.