Rise of over 100% in Covid cases in Maharashtra

Mumbai: Covid cases rose by 100% in Maharashtra, mainly due to increased testing on weekdays as against weekends. From 1,189 cases on Monday (among those tested on Sunday), the state tally increased to 2,435 on Tuesday.

The death toll in Maharashtra climbed to double digits (13) after a gap of five months, but state surveillance officer Dr Pradip Awate said this was due to reconciliation of data. "Of the 13 deaths, only five occurred within the last 48 hours while seven occurred in the last one week and one death occurred prior to a week," he said.

In Mumbai, where the June surge in Covid cases was most noticeable, daily cases rose (420) by 78% from Monday's 235 cases. The city recorded zero deaths for the fourth consecutive day.

As compared to the hospitalisation data in June, when between 50 to 100 patients were admitted every day, the number of hospitalisations dropped to 25 in Mumbai on Tuesday. At the moment, 317 Covid patients are in various hospitals in Mumbai.

Dr Rahul Pandit, head of intensive care at Fortis Hospital and a member of the state government's Covid-19 task force, said this lull is the time to focus on genomic sequencing. "We have to be on a lookout for new variants as well as keep tabs on the clinical presentation of cases. Also, people should take the Covid vaccine and continue wearing masks indoors," he said.

The doctor said that in future small, localised waves would continue.