Coronavirus in Maharashtra: State records 12,608 new COVID-19 cases, tally rises to 5,72,734

Coronavirus in Maharashtra: State records 12,608 new COVID-19 cases, tally rises to 5,72,734

State government attributes jump in fatalities to its data-cleaning exercise

Swapnil MishraUpdated: Saturday, August 15, 2020, 08:06 AM IST
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Four lakh Covid patients have recovered in Maharashtra, with 10,484 being recovered in the last 24 hours, increasing the number of patients discharged to 4,01,442 so far. The recovery rate has now increased to 70 per cent in the state which is less than Mumbai recovery rate which is 79.23 per cent. Meanwhile the state has recorded the second highest single-day cases, with 12,608 new infections being reported on Friday, increasing the total count to 5,72,734 so far. The death toll has now increased to 19,427, with 364 fatalities reported in the last 24 hours.

The state attributed Thursday’s jump in fatalities to its data-cleaning exercise. It said of the 364 deaths, 277 were from the last 48 hours, 46 from last week and the other 41 from the period before that. Of the total deaths, 118 were from the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), followed by 112 in Pune, 47 each in Nashik and Kolhapur, 22 in Latur, 20 in Nagpur, 12 in Aurangabad and six in Akola.

Meanwhile, the Covid-19 death toll in Mumbai has crossed 7,000 mark, with 47 fatalities being recorded on Friday, increasing the number to 7,035. However, after two days the number of cases in Mumbai has dropped below 1,000, with 979 being recorded in the last 24 hours, taking the total positive count to 1,28,550.

Senior state officials said the number of cases going up is not a cause for concern as much as the increase in the deaths and the case fatality rate, which is 3.4 per cent and 5.5 per cent in the state and Mumbai respectively.

The rise in daily fatalities over the past few days and the state’s failure to bring down CFR has been a major cause for concern. In its letter to district and civic administrations, in the first week of July, the state health department had directed them to put in efforts to bring the positivity rate below 10% and fatality rate to less than 1%

“We have been able to reduce the CFR, although it is not as fast as at the national level. It is because of the monsoon and related ailments and the limitations our machinery is facing. We have been working tirelessly to bring it down. The local authorities have been told to concentrate on containment zones and increase tracing for high- and low-risk contacts. It is true that there is fear among the people about hospitalisation and it leads to late referrals,” said Dr Sadhana Tayade, director, directorate of health services.

So far, a total of 30. 45 lakh tests have been conducted in the state, of which nearly 18.84 per cent were positive. There are 10.32 lakh people in home quarantine and over 37,386 in institutional quarantine.

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