MUMBAI: For the fourth day in a row, the state continued to report under 3,000 Covid-19 cases, while Mumbai reported over 400 cases on Tuesday.
Maharashtra reported 2,401 cases and 39 deaths on Tuesday. New cases in Mumbai rose to 427 after dipping to 339 the previous day. Daily deaths remained constant at two, with the overall toll at 16,127 so far.
Meanwhile, neighbouring Thane registered the highest daily Covid positivity rate on Monday since the first week of August. Thane recorded a 4% test positivity rate as 61 patients tested positive of the total 1521 tests done.
“Our daily test positivity rate has been steady around 1.3% and there are no clusters except for the medical students testing positive at KEM Hospital,” said a BMC official. “All the affected students had attended a get-together that led to the spread.”
The number of active cases and those under home quarantine has been steadily increasing, but BMC officials believe the rise in cases is not alarming yet.
Dr Shashank Joshi, a member of the state government task force on Covid-19, said that the focus right now should be on vaccination and reduction in the Covid-19 deaths to zero.
“We have to ensure vaccination continues at a hectic pace. We should be able to identify areas and localities where vaccination hasn’t picked up and carry out special drives,” he said.
Joshi said the other important thing is to ensure that people don’t give up Covid-appropriate behaviour.
“Covid is still around. Covid deaths are still happening. We cannot afford to be complacent,” he said.
The primary focus of the health machinery should be to ensure Covid deaths are zero, Dr Joshi added.
