Maharashtra COVID-19 tally rose to 18,84,773 on Thursday with the addition of 3,880 fresh cases. Meanwhile, the fatalities dropped to 65 in the last 24 hours compared to 95, which was reported just a day before. With this, the death toll has risen to 48,499 so far. The active cases have dropped to 60,905.
Mumbai, meanwhile, witnessed a 26.28 per cent drop in its daily cases on Thursday. 586 new cases and 10 fatalities were reported in the last 24 hours, increasing the respective tallies to 2,84,990 and 11,017 till now.
Dr Rahul Pandit, member of the state-appointed task force for the clinical management of critical patients, said that some amount of herd immunity may have been playing a role in the decline of cases, especially in densely populated areas.
“At least in densely populated areas, we may achieve some amount of herd immunity. This is the reason cases are not coming from those areas. No one will accept it because it is yet to be proven, but logically we can think that it is impossible for those living in slums to maintain social distance. Despite this, if people there are fine, then something is preventing the spread,” Dr Pandit said.
Senior health officials said the COVID-19 situation in the state is improving. The recovery rate is at 94%, the doubling rate is over 350 days and the CFR is low. The growth rate is 0.2%. “If people remain disciplined, strictly wear masks and maintain social distance, then cases will not surge and remain in control. The “possible second peak” of the virus will not be witnessed in the state if people remain disciplined,” he said.
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