Covid-19: Maharashtra count crosses 8,000 just a day after 7,000 mark

MUMBAI: As it recorded 440 new cases, the Covid-19 meter in the state crossed the 8,000 mark on Sunday with the needle coming to rest at 8,068 cases. Just a day before, the state’s tally had gone beyond the 7,000 mark to settle at 7,628 after the detection of 811 new cases, the highest in a single day anywhere in the country.

For the first time, the total novel coronavirus infections in the state made the journey between two 1,000 markers —7,000 and 8,000 —in just a day. The 6,000 mark and the 5,000 mark had come in two days, and the previous 1,000 jumps had come in four and six days.

Another 19 lives were lost to Covid-19 on Sunday, taking the state toll to 342.

The city witnessed a 41% day-on-day dip in positive cases on Sunday, with 358 new cases against Saturday’s 602. The new cases took the city tally to 5,407.

With a dozen deaths—the joint third-highest for a day so far—the city toll crossed 200. It now stands at 204, accounting for 60% of the state’s 342 deaths. It is the highest for any city in the country.

A death that was previously accounted in Thane’s toll was added to the city’s toll on Sunday.

Three deaths were reported from Pune, two from Jalgaon and one each from Solapur and Latur.

After the compilation of the lists, local authorities confirmed five deaths in the Pune Metropolitan Region on Sunday, of which three were at Sassoon Hospital.

A state official said the deaths in the city and Pune continued to be a cause for concern. The Mumbai Metropolitan Region, including the city, Thane, Palghar and Raigad contributed to 223 of the 342 deaths, while Pune circle, which includes Pune city, Solapur and Satara, accounted for 83 deaths.

“A majority of the deaths are coming from urban areas and it has raised questions about the quality of public health infrastructure and health protocols,” said the official.

The case fatality rate (CFR) for both the state as well as the city remained steady at 4.23% and 3.77%, respectively. From being the state with the highest CFR, the state has now dropped to the fifth position in the country.

Within the city, Dharavi on Sunday recorded 34 new cases, its highest single-day jump in a day since the first Covid-19 positive case was reported in the area on April 1. Around 26 BMC doctors are struggling to put a lid on the rising cases in one of the densest pockets of the city.

Among hospitals, Bandra’s Asian Heart Institute joined the long list of affected healthcare institutions after 31 of their staffers, including eight nurses, tested positive.

Also on Sunday, 112 patients went home, taking the count of recovered patients in the state to 1,188. From the city, a 90-year-old woman from G-South ward became the oldest patient in the city to recover and go home.

Public health minister Rajesh Tope said that the key to winning the fight over coronavirus would be testing and quarantining. “Over 1.16 lakh swab samples have been tested, of which over 1.07 lakh have tested negative. The cluster containment zone action is being implemented well. As on today, 604 containment zones are active. As per the record, 1.36 lakh people are home-quarantined and 9,160 are in institutional quarantines,” the minister said.

The state in an analysis of deaths said that of the 19 deaths on Sunday, 11 were men and eight were women. Seven were aged over 60 years, 10 were from the age group 40 to 59 years and two were under 40 years of age. Eleven out of the remaining 15 patients (59%) had high-risk co-morbidities such as diabetes, hypertension, asthma, heart disease, TB etc.

Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray said on Sunday that 80% of the positive patients in the state were asymptomatic.