The Covid-19 death toll in Maharashtra has breached the 50,000-mark on Saturday, with 57 more people succumbing to the virus in the last 24 hours, increasing the count to 50,027. Meanwhile, the state has reported 3,581 new infections, pushing its tally to 19,65,556, till now. However, the state mortality rate is 2.55 per cent which has been constant since the last three months.
“Of the deaths reported today, 40 occurred in the last 48 hours and 11 in the last week. Rest 6 deaths are from the period before last week. Out of the 6 deaths, 2 occurred in Nandurbar, 1 in Kolhapur, 1 in Nagpur, 1 in Nashik and 1 in Parbhani,” said Dr Pradip Awate, state surveillance officer.
On Saturday, Mumbai recorded 595 new cases, and nine COVID-19 deaths, taking the total number of cases to 2,98,233, with 11,180 fatalities till now. Currently, Mumbai has 7,678 active cases, with a recovery rate of 93%, and an overall growth rate of 0.21%.
Dr Subhash Salunkhe, chairman of communicable diseases prevention control and technical committee of the state, said Maharashtra has hit the plateau (of Covid-19 infections) and the situation will be much better by March if the trend continues.
He, however, said it is essential for citizens to follow “Covid-appropriate behaviour”.
“Crowding at public places during Diwali led to a rise in fresh infections, but it was not as high as witnessed in north India, especially in Delhi, and not as intense as seen in Europe and the US. This is a very positive sign and if the plateau continues and cases decline by January, we will head towards a positive epidemiological situation. By March, we will be in a much better position then,” Salunkhe said.
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