After recording less than 15,000 cases for two consecutive days, Maharashtra, on Wednesday, reported 18,317 cases and 481 fatalities, taking the total count to 13,84,446 with 36,662 deaths so far. Till now, 10,88,322 patients have recovered and 19,163 patients have been discharged in the last 24 hours.
Of the 481 fatalities, 237 were from the past 48 hours, 115 were from the past week and the remaining 129 were from the period before it.
Mumbai recorded its highest one day cases on Wednesday, with 2,654 new infections, taking the total count to 2,05,102. The death toll has now increased to 8,926 and 46 patients succumbed to the virus in the last 24 hours.
The cases in the state witnessed a decline over the past 10 days after reporting a daily addition of more than 20,000 cases over a major part of the past two months. Last 10 days (September 20 to September 29) saw the addition of 178,114 cases and 3,965 deaths, against the 220,666 cases and 4,429 fatalities reported in 10 days (September 10 to September 19) before it. The state conducted 91,1877 tests in the past 10 days, as opposed to the 903,141 tests conducted from September 10 to September 19.
Dr Avinash Supe, former King Edward Memorial (KEM) Hospital dean and member of the state committee appointed to recommend steps to contain COVID-19, said that while easing the curbs, the government should have more community participation. “The state is planning to allow restaurants to open and suburban railway services to start. Restaurants operating at 40 per cent of their capacity should not cause the spread. However, for the suburban railway service, I think, the government should continue with restricted entry and go for more number of services. More participation of the people will help in educating and bringing awareness, commitment and involvement in the drive to keep the spread at the bay,” he said.
Dr Supe said, “By the end of October, cases should begin to decline. By December, it will see a drastic fall. Mumbai should see the decline early as the spread was seen first in the city. At the state level, the decline may begin by Diwali. More cases should not be the cause of worry if the mortality is under control. The rise in the cases is because of the opening of activities and more number of tests,” he said.
So far, a total of 61.06 lakh tests have been conducted in the state, of which nearly 20.69 per cent were positive. There are 18.75 lakh people in home quarantine and over 34,547 in institutional quarantine.
