The statistics related to the deadly Covid-19 pandemic has been a mixed bag of sorts for the Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC). 18 more people tested positive on Saturday as the total number of cumulative Covid-19 positive cases ticked up from 631 to 649. While eight out of the 18 new cases are unlinked, the remaining are said to be contacts of those who had earlier tested positive for the virus. Moreover, a five-day old baby girl and a 72-year old senior citizen are amongst those who tested positive on Saturday.
On the brighter side, the recovery rate continues to hover well above 62 percent as 405 patients have so far recovered from the virus and have been discharged from designated Covid-19 hospitals, pulling down the number of active cases to 220, till Saturday. However, the case fatality rate (CFR) which is now pegged at 3.5 percent has apparently become a cause of worry for the health authorities. With two more deaths reported on Saturday the total number of casualties has soared to 24. CFR is the percentage of coronavirus deaths to number of patients who tested positive. Notably, twelve out of the 24 casualties have been reported from the twin-city in the last eight days.
Concerned over the exorbitant amount of money charged by private hospitals to treat Covid-19 patients, BJP corporator- Dhruvkishor Patil has asked the MBMC chief to appoint a co-ordination panel to monitor reserved beds and ensure that pricing structure was in accordance to government guidelines. “It has come to notice that private health care providers are charging Rs. 30,000 to Rs.40,000 per day, that means a 14-day treatment of a patient costs between Rs. 4.20 lakh to Rs.5.60 lakh. How can people afford this.” questioned Patil. The state health department has put a cap on charges private hospitals can levy on patients.
According to official information on Covid-19 tests, the MBMC had conducted 2,799 swab tests till Saturday. Among these, 1,904 persons tested negative, 649 persons tested positive even as reports of 246 persons were still awaited from the designated laboratories.
