Maharashtra on Monday breached the 450,000 mark in confirmed Covid-19 cases with 8,968 new infections taking the state’s tally to 450,196. The state recorded 266 deaths on Monday, pushing the death toll to 15,842. It reported that 10,221 patients were discharged on Monday, taking the tally of the recovered people to 287,030. The number of active cases in the state stood at 147,018.
Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on Monday reiterated that the state government will set up permanent hospitals for infectious diseases in the state. Last week, Thackeray sought the support of the Central government to set up a permanent infectious disease hospital and research facility near Mumbai. He put forth the demand, while interacting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union health minister Harsh Vardhan at the virtual launch of Covid-19 testing facilities in Noida, Mumbai and Kolkata.
Mumbai, meanwhile, continued with the trend of clocking fewer cases on the first two days of the week. On Monday, it recorded 970 new infections, taking its tally to 117,406. With 46 fatalities reported in the city, Mumbai’s toll due to the infectious disease stood at 6,493. Mumbai now has 20,528 active cases.
Though the absolute number reported on Monday is lower than the previous days, the positivity rate saw a significant rise from the numbers reported on Sunday.
As per the state health department’s data, 43,022 samples were tested,
On Monday, the positivity rate jumped by 5.19 percentage points in comparison to the previous day though the absolute numbers were lower. The number of samples tested on Monday was 43,022, of which 8,968 were positive, which is a positivity rate of 20.84%. On Sunday, 60,758 samples were tested and 9,509 came out positive, which was a positivity rate of 15.65%. The overall positivity rate of the state stood at 19.58%.
Maharashtra is the most affected state by the Covid-19 outbreak and has the second-highest case fatality rate (CFR) in the state after Gujarat. The volume of the outbreak and the absence of robust health infrastructure in the state has prompted the state government to set up makeshift facilities and subsequently plan permanent infrastructure.
While speaking at the commissioning of a 371-bed dedicated Covid-19 facility in Mira-Bhayander, Thackeray said that along with development work, the state will focus on strengthening public health infrastructure
“There is an urgent need to set up permanent dedicated infectious hospitals across the state to overcome an epidemic in the future and the state government is making efforts for this,” Thackeray said, who inaugurated the two dedicated Covid facilities in Bhayander east on Monday afternoon through video conferencing. The CM also assured that there will not be a dearth of funds for the municipal corporations in the state in the battle against Covid-19.
Thackeray also inaugurated a 200-bed dedicated Covid facility in Mahad, Raigad district. The CM said that the facility will help rural areas in the surrounding areas. Thane and Raigad districts have 32,191 and 4,872 active cases.
The CM called for increased coordination between agencies and government machinery to tackle the outbreak and to control the death rate. “To stop the spread of Covid-19, coordination between the government machinery is crucial. With erecting quarantine facilities, tracing, testing and tracking should be done. The state machinery should work even harder to control the CFR,” he said.
Meanwhile, Pune district is expected to cross 1 lakh total confirmed cases by Tuesday as the tally on Monday stood at 96,669. As per the data, 43% or 41,664 of the total cases in the district are active cases. On Monday, Pune city reported 796 new infections and 40 deaths. Pune district reported 231 new cases and nine fatalities, while Pimpri-Chinchwad reported 731 new infections and 13 deaths.
The infection in the rural and semi-urban areas of the state continued to spread at a brisk pace. With festivals, including Ganeshotsav, approaching, the state health department is anticipating a rise in the number of cases across rural areas.
On Monday, Nashik city reported 323 new infections, taking city’s tally to 10,559. Solapur district, another hotspot in the state, saw 202 new infections, taking tally to 4562. Kolhapur district recorded 395 new cases, taking its tally to 5,196. Sangli-Miraj reported 365 new cases, pushing its tally to 1,881.
Aurangabad city reported 237 cases pushing its tally to 10,609. Nagpur city reported 176 new cases, which took the city’s tally to 3,850, while the district reported 108 new cases. Hingoli reported 100 cases, while Nanded district and Nanded city reported 123 and 103 new cases, respectively. Latur, Amravati city and Gondia reported 76, 63 and 61 new cases.
