In a record single-day surge, Maharashtra reported a staggering 778 fresh COVID-19 cases on Wednesday as the State’s cumulative tally exceeded the 6,000-case mark to 6,427, while 14 new deaths took the death toll to 283.
According to State health officials, six of these deaths were from Mumbai city, while five more were reported from Pune, and one each from Navi Mumbai, Nandurbar and Dhule, with the latter two districts reporting their first deaths.
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Mumbai’s death toll now stands at 167, while that of Pune district has risen to 62 with as many as 59 deaths being reported from Pune city.
“More than 55% of the deaths reported had high-risk co-morbidities such as diabetes, hypertension, asthma and heart disease,” informed State Surveillance Officer Dr. Pradeep Awate.
Mumbai and Pune
Alarming spikes in the number of cases were reported from both Mumbai and Pune cities, with the Maximum City reporting an all-time high jump of 522 fresh cases to surge past the 4,000 mark to touch 4,205 cases.
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Pune city reported 100 cases in less than 24 hours, to take its tally of cases to 853, while Pimpri-Chinchwad reported six new cases to take its total to 57.
The cumulative district total for Pune now stands at 910, with nearly 170 cases being reported over just two days.
“In the past few days, the cases in Pune district, especially in Pune city, have soared. However, this is primarily due to the fact that we have intensified testing as well as our screening efforts. An average 700-800 tests are being carried out daily in the highly infected areas in the city. We have expanded our testing capacity to as many as 1,035 samples,” said Pune District Collector Naval Kishore Ram.
He further said that it was especially worrying that there were more women patients and female fatalities in the city’s Bhavani Peth area — a highly infected cluster accounting for more than 200 of the 800-odd cases in Pune city.
“This means that people have been suppressing details of their ailments. I appeal to them — if they have fever or are showing any virus-like symptoms, they must have themselves checked at any of the 75-odd flu clinics we have set up across the city. Even people in rural areas must not be complacent as cases are rising there as well, and farmers must take special care while selling their agricultural produce,” Mr. Ram said.
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He said that more stringent lockdown measures would be implemented in the coming days in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad in order to break the chain of infection.
“This could mean that essentials would in short supply in some areas in the district. I urge people to strictly remain indoors in the next few days and adhere to social distancing measures,” said the District Collector, adding that the workforce in the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) zones outside Pune city like Chakan and Ranjangaon must remained confined there itself in order to avoid infection.
Alongside the surge in cases, a total of 51 persons were discharged today, taking the figure of persons recovered till date to 840.
Meanwhile, areas in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (excluding Mumbai city) reported significant jumps in new cases as well, with as many as 27 being reported from Kalyan-Dombivli to take its tally to 124, while a massive spike of 58 new cases was recorded in Thane district to take its total to 248.
Malegaon in Nashik, a major virus hotspot in north Maharashtra, reported 15 more cases on Thursday as the city’s tally rose to 109 while the district’s cumulative tally surged to 120, including nine fatalities thus far.
“As per government of India guidelines, a three-tier care and treatment system has been executed in the State. Currently, there are 208 Category-1 hospitals in the State, 483 Category-2 hospitals and 782 COVID-19 care centres. A total of 1,61,499 beds have been readied in these 1,563 hospitals. There are 6,077 ICU beds and 2,509 ventilators available in these facilities,” said Dr. Awate.
He also said that, till date, 1,14,398 people across the State are in home quarantine and 8,702 persons in institutional quarantine.
