At 1,043, Maharashtra’s Covid death toll 4.5 times higher in January than in December

MUMBAI: The Covid-19 death toll for January in the state crossed the 1,000-mark —for the first time after October (1,120)—with an addition of over 250 deaths in the last four days of the month. There were 474 deaths in November and 233 in December.

Latest figures show 1,043 lives were lost in January as the third wave spread from the big districts to cover the state. The increase was more than four-fold from the December toll. State officials pointed out that the January case fatality rate at 0.1% was the lowest in the pandemic. The CFR in December was 0.5% and 1.8% in November.
Considering positive cases jumped by nearly 24 times in January to 10. 4 lakh from 43,759 in December in the state, the mortality numbers are not alarming, said Dr Pradeep Awate, state surveillance officer. The deaths were largely in vulnerable populations such as the elderly and those with comorbidities, as in the earlier waves.

The state has been reporting an average of 70 deaths for the past week. A health official said the numbers are likely to remain in that range for another week or two since 4,727 people are currently serious. Of them, 2,193 patients are in ICUs, including 705 on ventilators and 1,388 on oxygen support. Another 2,500 patients are on oxygen outside the ICU.

Deaths are being reported from all parts of the states, said Awate.

Data shows the Mumbai Metropolitan Region recorded the highest 494 deaths, followed by Pune circle that saw 279 deaths and Nashik circle with 116 deaths. While Kolhapur and Latur circles have reported 89 and 48 deaths, Akola and Nagpur circles have seen less than 30 deaths. Aurangabad circle has seen the lowest fatalities at10 deaths.

A district health official said there is no doubt the third wave was less severe and many people didn’t get tested. “It’s possible deaths may have been undercounted to some extent due to low testing,” he said.