MUMBAI: On a day when the state registered 6,126 Covid cases, state public health minister Rajesh Tope said the vaccination drive would be intensified in four districts — Kolhapur, Sangli, Satara and Pune — that continued to witness test positivity rates higher than the state average.
The daily case tally in Mumbai registered a marginal rise to 329 cases on Wednesday, but the daily test positivity remained at 1% as the BMC conducted more tests. According to the BMC Covid update on Wednesday, 34,114 tests were conducted in the city.
Nine deaths were registered in Mumbai on Wednesday, while the state added 195 fatalities. On Tuesday, the city had the lowest toll (3) in three months.
The overall case tally in the state now stands at 63 lakh, including 7.3 lakh cases in Mumbai. The state toll is 1,33,410, including 15,920 deaths in Mumbai.
Besides ramping up vaccination, the state health department will emphasise on tracking, testing and treatment in the four districts of concern, said health minister Tope.
He said as the countries facing the third wave at the moment had higher vaccinated population, they were not severely impacted in terms of hospitalisation and death. “So we are emphasising more and more on vaccination and want the Centre to provide an uninterrupted supply of vaccines,” said Tope.
In the last 24 hours, Aurangabad reported 24 deaths, the highest in the state, while Ahmednagar (rural) registered the highest (785) new cases (with 16 deaths).
Pune, Satara, Sangli, Kolhapur and Solapur are the only other districts with deaths in two-digit numbers. According to the state health department data, the six-district Nagpur circle reported only 26 new cases of Covid and no deaths on Wednesday.
