Maharashtra logs lowest daily Covid cases of 15,044 since Mar 2021

Maharashtra reported lowest Covid cases on Monday, with the state reporting 15,044 new infections and 184 Covid-19 deaths in the past 24 hours, pushing its total positive cases to 57,46,892 and deaths to 95,344.

This is the lowest number of cases being reported in the state since March 11 this year when 14,317 cases were reported in a single day.

The number of Covid-19 cases recorded in Maharashtra was 63,282 on May 1, which came down to 34,848 cases on May 15 and 18,600 on May 30. The state saw 802 deaths on May 1, which increased to 960 on May 15, but came down to 402 on May 30. There are currently 2,53,367 active patients across the state, with Pune topping with 36,563 patients, followed by Mumbai with 24,850 active patients.

Mumbai also witnessed less than 1,000 cases on Monday, with 676 new cases and 29 Covid deaths being reported in the last 24 hours, taking the total count to 7,06,251 and deaths to 11,884 till now. Meanwhile, the doubling rate has increased to 433 days, while the weekly growth rate has dropped to 0.15 per cent.

Dr Subhash Salunke, advisor, Maharashtra government on Covid-19 management, said a lot of efforts were undertaken to ensure the decline of the cases. “We ramped up the number of tests, ensured faster diagnosis as well as medication for the patients and also ensured they get hospital beds in time,” said Dr Salunke. He said the lockdown played a significant role in the dip.

However, despite the decline, many districts in rural areas, namely Sangli, Satara, Kolhapur and Washim, continued to report a high number of cases with positivity rates.

Senior health officials from the state health department attributed the decrease in the number of deaths to various corrective measures taken over a period of time. “We are testing much earlier than before. In addition, the patients with comorbidities are being sent to the hospitals and are not advised of home quarantine, which has improved the situation. Today we have far better knowledge of the mode of treatment, the medication required as well as post-Covid-19 protocols than before. All these factors combined have resulted in a decrease in the death rate,” he added.