Maharashtra continues to report more than 60,000 Covid cases for the third straight day, with 67,123 new infections being reported on Saturday, pushing its tally to 37,70,707 cases till now. It is the highest single-day cases reported since the pandemic outbreak. Meanwhile, the state reported more than 400 Covid deaths after almost five months, with 419 people succumbing to the SARS-CoV-2 virus in the last 24 hours, increasing the death toll to 59,970 till now.
However the positivity rate of cases has increased to 16 per cent. Meanwhile, the recovery rate is hovering around 81 per cent for the last one week, with 30,61,174 persons being recovered from the infection across the state.
Mumbai, meanwhile witnessed less than 9,000 cases in the last 24 hours day, with 8,834 new infections and 52 Covid-19 deaths being reported on Saturday, increasing the total count to 5,70,832, with 12,294 fatalities so far. Meanwhile, the recovery rate has touched to 82 per cent, with 4,69,961 being recovered till now.
Kishori Pednekar, Mayor, Mumbai said the city which is among the worst-hit cities by the coronavirus disease, should be brought under a complete lockdown. “Ninety-five per cent of Mumbaikars are adhering to Covid-19 restrictions. The remaining 5% of people who are not following restrictions are causing problems to others. I think a complete lockdown should be imposed looking at the current Covid-19 situation,” she said.
Senior doctor said the younger population has always been the main carrier of Covid-19 because they step out for work, they were largely asymptomatic following which cases are increasing. “Although we don’t have any scientific evidence to prove that the virus is more dangerous now, there is no denying that the younger population makes up for a larger proportion of the admitted patient pool than before,” said a doctor working for a BMC hospital.
Dr Rahil Pandit, member of state covid-19 task force said there is possibly a change in the disease pattern. “The Covid cycle is usually two to three weeks long. For the first one week to 10 days, youngsters remain asymptomatic but then land up in hospital with a cytokine storm,” he said . Cytokine storms are a severe immune reaction in which the body releases too many cytokines or proteins into the blood too quickly.
