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The | New Delhi |
Updated: May 7, 2020 7:10:23 am
Mumbai was one of the first coronavirus hotspots and has been the main contributor to Maharashtra’s count of 15,525 cases and 617 deaths. (Express photo by Nirmal Harindran / File)
Forty-three days after the shutdown, Mumbai reports a novel coronavirus positivity rate (COVID-19) of approximately 15%, up from a national average of 3%, and sets off alarms.
Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan reviewed the state of Maharashtra and Gujarat on Wednesday and called on states to focus on monitoring and tracing contacts. The official position remains that there is no community transmission in the country.
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“The situation in Mumbai is very worrying,” said a source. “Nationwide, for approximately 12,76,781 tests, we have approximately 50,000 cases, which gives a positivity rate of approximately 3%. Mumbai, on the other hand, has approximately 11,000 cases against approximately 73,000 tests performed, giving a positivity rate of approximately 15%. This is too high. There are also questions about where the samples come from and how effective contact tracing is, given these numbers. “
Mumbai was one of the first coronavirus hotspots and has been the main contributor to Maharashtra’s count of 15,525 cases and 617 deaths. There are also concerns about crowded living conditions in the city’s urban slums, especially Dharavi, from where cases are now regularly reported.
“There is no community transmission across the country, some places report more cases. But it is also a fact that people are less careful in urban areas than in rural areas. They have a sense of invincibility. As for mortality, it is clear that in some cases they appear to have been late to the hospital, ”said a senior government official, emphasizing the need to remove the stigma associated with the disease.
A death audit report submitted by a committee established by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation had previously found that while the average time between onset of Covid-19 symptoms in a person and death was 6.4 days in Mumbai, the average time between hospital admission and death was 2.4 days. In some international studies, the latter figure exceeds 15 days. This meant that people in Mumbai were late to the hospital, when their chances of survival were much lower.
India reported 2,680 new coronavirus cases and 111 deaths on Wednesday, bringing the total to 49,391 cases and 1,694 deaths. At his review meeting, the Minister of Health also expressed concern about high death rates in some districts of Maharashtra and Gujarat.
“States should focus on more effective surveillance, contact tracing and early diagnosis, to reduce the high death rate. Proper interventions, screening, and case tests for severe acute respiratory infections / influenza-like illness require appropriate care, as this can prevent the spread of infection in other areas. The implementation of an effective containment strategy should be the highest priority of the states to reduce the mortality rate. It is time to take systematic preventive, preventive and comprehensive measures and follow the protocols established by the Center, ”said Dr. Harsh Vardhan.
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