City sees marginal drop in cases
There has been a marginal drop in the number of daily COVID-19 cases in Mumbai. 1,946 new cases and 68 fatalities were reported on Thursday. The tallies now stand at 6,84,048 and 14,076, respectively. Meanwhile, the doubling rate has increased to 189 days and the weekly growth rate has dropped to 0.36 per cent.
Maharashtra, too, witnessed a drop in daily cases on Thursday. 42,582 new cases and 850 fatalities were reported in the last 24 hours. With this, the tallies stand at 52,69,292 and 78,857, respectively. Meanwhile, the recovery rate of the state has increased to 88.34 per cent. 54,355 patients recovered in the last 24 hours, clocking the total recovery count at 46,54,731.
Doctors informed that the mortality rate will continue to remain high for a minimum of two to three weeks.
The city still has more than 2,700 patients in critical care. “A peculiar presentation seen in several young patients is that they could desaturate and die suddenly after seven to eight days. The progression is rapid,” said Dr Avinash Supe, who heads the COVID-19 death audit committee for the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR).
Senior health officials said the lockdown played a crucial role in containing the virus. “The lockdown has slowed down the virulence and decreased the potency of the virus significantly. It needs to be extended so that its gains are not lost,” he said. Dr Subhash Salunkhe, former director general of health services (Maharashtra) and advisor to the state on COVID-19, said, “There are multiple factors leading to higher deaths in rural and semi urban areas, including poor health infrastructure, mutating virus and insufficient drugs.”