Maharashtra on Wednesday recorded 8,142 new infections and 180 covid-19 fatalities, pushing the count to 16,17,658, with 42,633 deaths so far. The recovery rate of the state has now increased to 87.51 per cent, with 23,371 patients having recovered and discharged in the last 24 hours, increasing the total count to 14,15,679 till now.
Mumbai, meanwhile recorded 1,609 new cases and 48 fatalities, increasing the total count to 2,45,871, with 9,869 deaths till now. The doubling rate of overall cases in the city has increased to 102 days and recovery rate has surged to 88 per cent. Officials are wary about the festival season of Navratri, Dussehra and Diwali. If basic precautions are not followed by the people then the situation may reverse. “The situation is definitely improving and it is a positive sign. Despite projections of a surge in cases, the infection rate of the state is on decline since the last four weeks. But maintaining this trend is more important, considering the festive season. If people become careless while celebrating festivals and don’t follow social distancing norms, then the situation will overturn in no time. It’s all up to the people on what they want,” said a senior health official, wishing not to be named.
Public health expert Sanjay Pattiwar, too, was of the view that festive season may push the state back. “Lockdown will have to go and that’s where the problem lies. Now, discipline by the people at large is going to play a significant role as the state is relaxing most of the restrictions and many festivals are also lined up. All these are likely to contribute, which could ultimately lead to a rise in Covid19 cases,” he said.
“For now, we have to keep our fingers crossed. We have to monitor the situation at least for two incubation periods (each of 14 days), which comes to around one month. In my view, if the trend of low count continues till November-end, only then we can say things are under control,” the health expert added.
