City records 929 cases

COVID-19 cases in Maharashtra and Mumbai have been declining gradually for the last one week. The state reported 20,740 new cases and 424 deaths on Friday. The tally now stands at 56,92,920 with 93,198 fatalities. Meanwhile, the recovery rate has touched 93 per cent. 31,671 patients have recovered in the last 24 hours, taking the total recovery count to 53,07,874 so far.

Mumbai witnessed less than 1,000 cases on Friday. 929 new cases and 30 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours. The total count now stands at 7,03,461 with 14,808 fatalities. Meanwhile, the doubling rate has increased to 370 days and the weekly growth rate has dropped to 0.18 per cent.

After over three months of surge, the daily cases reported in the state have started declining gradually. The situation started changing ever since the state government imposed a complete lockdown on April 22, which has been extended till the early morning of June 1.

Dr Rahul Pandit, member of the state task force, said that those who have succumbed to the disease are not new patients and were admitted in hospitals at least three weeks ago. He informed that the virus is fatal and patients in a critical condition are being admitted. “These are patients who were admitted almost three weeks ago, but could not recover and succumbed to the disease. They are not new patients,” he said. Dr Avinash Supe, chairman of the state death audit committee, said that the number of deaths are higher in districts that have no medical college or have weak health infrastructure. “Shortage of oxygen shortage and inadequate infrastructure has led to a rise in the number of deaths this year, especially in rural areas. Several regions saw a limited spread last year. This year, when the cases suddenly rose in these areas, the infrastructure was unprepared to handle the wave,” he said.