Maharashtra on Wednesday added 10,552 new infections and 158 covid-19 fatalities, pushing the total to 15,54,389, with 40,859 deaths so far. Meanwhile, the recovery rate has increased to 85 per cent, with 11,517 being recovered and discharged across the state, increasing the total number to 13,16,769 till now.
Mumbai meanwhile witnessed more than 2,000 cases on Wednesday, with 2,211 new cases and 48 fatalities, taking the total count to 2,34,606, with 9,552 till now.
The state, however, has been conducting fewer tests in the past two weeks compared to last month. The daily tests average in 13 days of October fell to 75,138, from the daily average of 88,209 tests in September. In the first two weeks of September (1-15) the state saw 12,70,131 tests at a daily average of 84,675 tests, which went up to a daily average of 91,743 tests in the next fortnight between September 16 and 30.
Dr. Ravi Wankhedkar, former national president of the Indian Medical Association said, a fall in the positivity rate even after a reduction in the tests, is a good sign. But in any case, the tests should not be reduced as it may lead to more fatalities when our CFR is already high in the country. “More importantly, when we have been lingering under the possible threat of a second wave of the infection, which has been witnessed in many countries across the globe, the authorities should not let their guard down. As a result of restaurants being allowed to open from October 5 and Navratri festival beginning on October 17, we can expect a surge in cases 14 days later,” he said.
According to officials from the health department, although the positivity rate is falling steadily and would help them to achieve the target of below 10%, the high CFR is a matter of concern for the authorities. An official said that when the other states have been able to bring CFR down in the recent past, it’s hovering at 2.65% for the past few weeks. “The high rate of mortality is because of the poor ratio of contact tracing per infection,” he said.
