For the second consecutive day, there were more than 6,000 new corona cases in Maharashtra in the last 24 hours. There were 6,875 new infections, including 219 deaths on Thursday, taking the total positive count to 2,30,599, with 9,667 deaths until now. It is the second highest number of cases reported in a single day. So far, 1,27,259 patients have been discharged from various hospitals across the state, with 4,067 having recovered in the last 24 hours.
Of the 219 deaths, 159 were in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), 38 in Pune division, 15 in Nashik division, two in each in Latur and Nagpur, one each in Akola and Aurangabad and one of the dead was from another state.
In the last eight days (since July 1), the state has recorded 48,965 cases, as against 302 in March, 10,196 cases in April, 57,157 cases in May and 1,02,172 cases in June. On an average, 6,120 new cases are being reported in Maharashtra every day.
According to the public health department of the BMC, there were 1,282 new cases and 68 deaths in the city on Thursday, bringing the total count to 89,124, with 5,132 deaths until now.
Health experts said the decline in new cases would have significance only if it was sustained for 10-14 days. “Though it is a good sign, a three-day period of decline actually has no significance. In the case of a pandemic, we will have to monitor the trend for over a period of seven to ten days and if it continues to decline for 14 days in a row, only then will we be in a position to say that it is a very good sign,” said public health expert Dr Subhash Salunkhe, who is also heads the communicable diseases prevention control and technical committee of the state.
Health officials said they are focusing on reducing the fatality rate and for this, they have decided to increase the number of daily tests in the state. “We have decided to conduct more testing so that more people can be traced and CFR as well as the positive rate against total testing can be reduced and be brought under 10 per cent,” he said.
Currently, there are 114 laboratories for Covid diagnosis in the state – 64 government and 50 private. Of the 12,22,487 laboratory samples, 2,30,599 had tested positive (18.86%) until Thursday. Currently, 6,49,263 people are in home quarantine and 48,191 people are in institutional quarantine.
