Maharashtra is likely to cross the grim milestone of a total of 1 lakh Covid deaths on Sunday, with only seven countries (including India) having a higher number of deaths during the pandemic. On Saturday, when the state registered its lowest single-day case count (13,659) in 87 days (since March 10, when 13,659 cases were registered), 741 deaths were added to the toll. Of these, 300 deaths were registered on Saturday, while the remaining 441 were deaths that occurred over a week ago. The total number of active Covid-19 cases has reduced across Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad civic limits. The state government, which has finalised a plan to provide five levels of lockdown restrictions based on how well a district or municipal corporation has kept Covid-19 at bay, has also added an overriding catch: if the demand for oxygen beds in the state crosses certain thresholds, then even places that have the most liberal levels of lockdown will have to implement the rules meant for the stricter levels
Daily Covid-19 cases seem to have stabilized at less than 16,000 in Maharashtra (15,229) for the last four days, with the test positivity rate dropping to 5.85% on Thursday. While deaths continued to be added in two instalments daily (307) and those that are a week old (336) state officials said the toll still seems to be dropping in comparison to a fortnight back. The lockdown-like restrictions introduced in Maharashtra to curb the pandemic’s second wave have slowed down the economy and slashed the revenues of the state government by as much as 23% between April and May. Revenues were down by Rs 4,509 crore in this period, the latest data shows. Bombay high court bench at Aurangabad on Thursday directed the state to place before it “a ready reference chart” on June 10 to indicate how many mucormycosis patients were under treatment, the number of patients who have been cured and the number of deaths in the Marathwada region. The Pune Metropolitan Region continued to report und
Relaxation of restrictions as per the situation in different areas is only under consideration and no decision has been taken, a statement from the Chief Minister s Office (CMO) said
The last time the city’s positivity rate was below 9.94% was on March 13, when it stood at 9.62%
MUMBAI: Gains from the lockdown-like curbs are beginning to show, though only in Mumbai and a couple of other districts.
The city’s daily positivity rate (PR) has dropped 50% from 20.8% on April 1 to 9.9% on April 30 giving hope that the second wave could be ebbing. Experts said the infection continues to rage in the rest of Maharashtra with Nagpur, Nashik and Thane showing a positivity of more than 30%.
Daily PR, statewide, remains as high as 23%, declining by barely 2% in the last 30 days.
BMC chief Iqbal Singh Chahal said Mumbai was perhaps the only city in India with such a low PR at present. “Our positivity rate is in single digit now despite carrying out 44,000 tests,” he said.