Maha lists 7 ‘dists of concern’, Mumbai also faces Covid spike
Of the total 52,025 active cases in the state, 90.61% belong to 10 districts of which 37,897 or 72.84% are located just in five districts
MUMBAI: The Maharashtra government on Sunday identified seven of the state’s western districts, including Pune, as regions of “concern” and took note of an upward trend in new cases in Mumbai, as the state government grapples with concerns that a new wave of the pandemic could be in making. The last 10 days have not seen any drop in the number of cases; instead, there has been a slight jump in new infections, said state health authorities at a meet in Mumbai.
The observations about the seven “districts of concern” – Pune, Ahmednagar, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg – were part of a presentation made by state’s additional chief secretary Dr Pradeep Vyas during a conference called ‘Majha Doctor’ (My Doctor) that was chaired by chief minister Uddhav Thackeray in Mumbai on Sunday.
Data showed that even though the weekly positivity rate stayed below 5% in all districts for the last several weeks, this week, some districts such as Pune and Ahmednagar saw the figure at 6.58% and 5.08%, respectively. Mumbai was back among top five districts having most cases.
Of the total 52,025 active cases in the state, 90.61% belong to 10 districts of which 37,897 or 72.84% are located just in five districts – Pune, Thane, Satara, Ahmednagar and Mumbai.
The state authorities have termed Pune, Ahmednagar, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg as ‘districts of concern’. “The growth rate of new infections, and weekly positivity rate in these districts is too high. With the Ganesh festival beginning Friday, likely to be celebrated on a large scale in these districts, there are chances of a third wave starting... The district administrations need to take utmost care,” said Dr Vyas.
Of the 44,437 new Covid-19 infections reported in the state in the last 10 days, 30,313 (68%) are from Pune (22%), Ahmednagar (17%), Satara (11%), Solapur and Mumbai (9% each), while the remaining 32% patients are from 30 districts. After reporting less than 400 cases consistently for 38 days — from July 25 to August 31 — new infections in Mumbai are again nearing the 500-mark. There were 495 new Covid-19 infections reported in the metropolis on Sunday.
Vyas, however, said that the second wave in 17 of the remaining districts appears to have subsided for now. Seven of them have less than 10 active patients while in 11, the number of active patients ranges between 11 and 100. Most of these districts are in Vidarbha and Marathwada.
At the conference, CM Thackeray said his government’s priority is to avert the third wave or reduce its intensity if it strikes. “We have increased the number of beds, but the question is whether we would be able to supply the oxygen required for the patients. Almost 80,000 patients during the peak of the second wave required oxygen. We will attempt to ensure that oxygen requirement does not go beyond 1,400 metric tonne per day, which we have been generating every day,” the CM said.
He added that at present, 350MT oxygen is being administered to Covid and non-covid patients daily. “There has been a brief rise in the daily caseload in the last few days, but we endeavour to bring it down to zero,” Thackeray said. Dr Mehul Mehta, who is a senior fellow at Harvard Global Health Institute, said masking up and vaccination were effective tools to keep the infection at bay. He gave the example of the southern part of the United States that has been witnessing a high number of cases because of low vaccination and Covid-inappropriate behaviour by people.
Dr Shashank Joshi, member of the state-appointed task force, said the state government is aggressively carrying out vaccinations in Dharavi, as there was a possibility that antibodies among the people there have reduced.
“During the first wave, our Dharavi model was appreciated across the globe, and despite the Delta Plus variant, daily caseload there could not cross 20 on any given day. But the antibodies among people there is expected to have gone down because of which vaccination drive in Asia’s largest slum is being aggressively implemented,” Joshi said.
He added, “Masking and vaccination are two effective tools to avert the third wave or reduce its intensity. The people who have already been infected and have been fully vaccinated have double antibodies.”