Maharashtra witnessed close to 60,000 corona cases on Wednesday, with 58,952 new infections and 278 covid fatalities being reported on Tuesday, pushing its tally to 35,78,160 with 58,804 fatalities till now. Meanwhile, the active cases in the state crossed 6 lakh-mark for the first time since the pandemic.
“Of the 278 deaths reported today, 170 occurred in the last 48 hours and 73 in the last week. Rest 35 deaths are from the period before last week. Of these 35 deaths, 15 occurred in Nagpur, 7 in Thane, 4 in Nanded, 3 in Jalgaon, 2 in Nashik, 1 in Ahmednagar, 1 in Osmanabad, 1 in Solapur and 1 in Yavatmal.,” said a senior health official.
Two days after the city reported close to 10,000 cases on Wednesday, with 9,925 new infections and 54 Covid-19 fatalities being reported in the last 24 hours, increasing the total count to 5,44,942, with 12,140 fatalities till now. However, the recovery rate in Maharashtra and Mumbai has touched 81 per cent respectively.
However, the BMC has opined that the number of cases in the city will stabilise by April 20 and the downfall of cases in the city will start falling from April 30.
A doctor from a BMC hospital said that deaths could rise in the coming week because of the high number of hospitalisations over the last 10-15 days. “Usually, the number of Covid deaths go up a fortnight after a rise in cases,’’ said the doctor.
Dr Avinash Supe, head of state-appointed death audit committee, said they expect the peak by the end of the month. “We were expecting the peak by April 15, but it is now likely to take a couple of more weeks. After a plateau for 10 days we can expect the downward trend thereafter,” he said. Dr Ravi Wankhedkar, former national president of Indian Medical Association, said rapid vaccina- tion could help the state in reducing the spread.
