Three months after the city recorded less than 600 coronavirus cases, Mumbai on Saturday reported 576 new cases and 23 COVID-19 fatalities. With this, the total number of positive cases rose to 2,63,052 while the death toll touched 10,419 so far. The recovery rate of the city has now touched to 90 percent, while mortality rate is constant at 3.96 percent.
Maharashtra, meanwhile witnessed a drop in daily cases on Saturday. The state reported 3,959 new cases and 150 COVID-19 deaths in the past 24 hours. The total count touched 17,14,273 while the death toll rose to 45,115 so far in the state.
Senior health officials said the state health department during a presentation before the cabinet on Thursday projected a possible rise in coronavirus cases after Diwali.
“Considering a drop in temperature owing to the winter and opening up of more activities in the state there could be a rise in the cases. The winter is expected to witness cold waves in northern parts of the country. It will have an impact in Maharashtra too like we witnessed it in 2015. Since the virus survives for more time in cold atmospheric conditions, there could be a spike in cases. Urban areas may see more cases than rural areas because of the density of population,” said an official.
According to the data, which were presented before the cabinet, the state’s doubling rate was 217.69 days on November 4 as against 36.31 days on August 31. The weekly average of the growth rate dropped to 0.32 percent on November 4 from 1.31 percent on September 30, 3.32 percent on June 30 and 27.2 percent on March 31.
The weekly CFR, too, dropped to 2.03 percent during October 28-November 3 period from 2.67 percent during October 14-20 period. The number of daily tests dropped from 73,317 three weeks ago on October 16 to 64,485 tests on November 4, stated the presentation, adding that the state government reached out to 27,463,793 households of total 27,633,982 families during the ‘My Family, My Responsibility’ drive and it helped trace 51,064 COVID-19 cases.
Dr Pradeep Awate, state surveillance officer, said authorities have been working on two fronts to tackle the potential second wave.
“We have been creating awareness among people for the adoption of COVID-appropriate behaviour and at the same time, augmenting our health infrastructure. During the peak time (first two weeks of September), there were more than 3 lakh active patients in the state. We are ramping up infrastructure and logistics for 10 percent more patients than during the peak period. All district authorities have been given fortnightly projections, asking them to ramp up the infrastructure,” he said.
Awate said the drop in daily testing is owing to a decrease in cases of influenza like illness (ILI) and COVID-19 infections and suspected contacts. “The daily tests have dropped to 70,000 from 85,000 a few weeks ago. We are still conducting more than 250 tests per million per day against the World Health Organisation’s mandate for 140/mn/day tests. But at the same time, we are targeting the ‘super spreaders’ from whom the possibility of spread of the virus is more. Our drive to trace and track the suspected segments and outreach program My Family, My Responsibility have helped us in covering more than 90 percent of the population,” he said.
