Covid-19: May ends with max Maharashtra toll, daily deaths lowest since April 5

Mumbai: The number of Covid-19 cases in Maharashtra dropped by a third from April to May, but the number of deaths went up 87% in the same period. A similar picture emerged in Mumbai, where cases in May were a fourth of the April cases, but deaths increased by 17%.

Due to tests almost halving in the state and Mumbai on Sunday, Maharashtra added 15,077 cases, the lowest since March 15 (15,051), and 184 fatalities. The toll was the lowest in 56 days since April 5 (155). This took the total caseload to 57.5 lakh cases and 95,344 deaths. In Mumbai, 666 cases were reported on Sunday, the lowest daily caseload since February 23 (643). Deaths too dropped below 30 (29).

The case tally and toll in Maharashtra were 17.8 lakh and 14,164 deaths, respectively, in April as compared to 11.4 lakh cases and 26,531 deaths in May. The state has added 6,207 previous deaths to the cumulative toll in May, making it the deadliest month so far since the outbreak of the pandemic. “Although the cases are on the decline in most parts of the state, deaths will continue to be high for the next few days,” said an official.

For Mumbai, the tally drastically dropped from 2.3 lakh in April to 57,371 cases in May. Deaths increased from 1,479 in April to 1,723 in May. “The increase could be explained by the fact that deaths increase a fortnight or 21 days after the peak in the number of cases,” said a BMC official.

The ebbing of the second wave is obvious in big cities like Mumbai and Pune but in parts of Maharashtra, the infection is still raging. “There are at least 10 districts in Maharashtra where spread is still happening at a worrisome pace. Hence, we need to unlock slowly and in a decentralised manner,” said Dr Shashank Joshi, who is a member of the state government’s task force on Covid. “We have to vaccinate the maximum number of people in the next three months as the third wave, if it occurs at all, could occur between September and October,” said Joshi.