MUMBAI: Maharashtra reported a significant increase in new Covid-19 cases and deaths on Wednesday, continuing the increase that began 10 days ago. A total of 8,807 cases, the highest in 129 days (from 9,060 on Oct. 18) were added to the state’s daily tally. The state reported 80 deaths, the highest in two months (since Dec. 24, when 89 deaths were reported). With this, the total number of cases in the state jumped to 21,21,119 and the figure reached 51,937.
Mumbai also recorded a three-month high in daily Covid-19 cases. It reported 1,167 new infections, the highest in 119 days. The last time the city had more than 1,167 cases was on October 28, when 1,354 were detected, and Mumbai was just coming off the peak. It is also after 88 days since November 28 (1,063) that the city has added more than 1,000 cases in one day. The only silver lining for the city was that deaths continued to be in the single digits (4). Mumbai total toll is now 11,458.
Of the 80 deaths in the state, 27 occurred in the past 48 hours and the rest are older than a week, according to the state update.
Intensivist Dr. Rahul Pandit, a member of the state Covid task force, said the increase in cases was “concerning.” “You see an increase in critical cases or deaths between 7 and 14 days after an increase in cases,” he said, adding that the next 10 days would be decisive for Mumbai. Additional municipal commissioner Suresh Kakani said more than 21,000 tests were carried out on Wednesday. “Yes, there is a jump in cases and in the positivity rate, which is 6%. We are closely monitoring the situation. We have asked all jumbo facilities to reactivate the beds, ”he said.
There was a detailed presentation at the state cabinet meeting where data on the rise of Covid-19 and the ongoing vaccination campaign was presented. Nawab Malik, minister for skills development, said CM Uddhav Thackeray instructed all districts to increase testing and contact tracing. The health department told the meeting that despite an increase in average cases in February, the fatality rate (CFR) is low. The daily average number of cases in January was 2,973 and the fatality rate was 1.7%. The daily average number of cases is 3,347 and the total deaths reported in February is 775, bringing the CFR to 0.4%.
The Mumbai circle reported 2,018 cases on Wednesday, the highest in the state, followed by the Pune circle with 1,811 cases. The Akola and Nagpur circles of the Vidarbha region, which is currently the eye of the storm, recorded 1,679 and 1,323 cases, respectively. the Nagpur Municipal Corporation reported a dozen deaths.
Dr. Shashank Joshi, another member of the state task force, said the next 10 days will tell if the state is looking at a second wave. “This rise has started in Vidarbha, and it’s hard to believe that mutant variants haven’t had a role to play,” he said. Another plausible explanation for the increase, he said, is that people who were not infected in the previous months began to move freely. “Double masking is absolutely necessary to prevent coronavirus,” he said.
From the MMR, Kalyan-Dombivli saw a sharp increase in Covid-19 patients. It reported 165 new patients and two deaths. There were 130 cases and two deaths within the NMMC areas on Wednesday. PCMC areas reported 55 new cases and one death on Wednesday.
(Entries from Pradeep Gupta, Vijay singh, BB Nayak)
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