Mumbai: For the second day straight, Maharashtra clocked over 300 fresh Covid-19 cases, recording 316 new infections. Mumbai with 223 new Covid-19 cases has breached the 200-mark for the second time this month, taking the caseload to 1,061,341. The state did not record any Covid-related fatalities on Thursday.
In the past 24 hours, the state tested 28,449 samples and had a positivity rate of 1.11%. In the last seven days, the state’s daily positivity rate had ranged from 0.88% on May 14 to 1.27% on May 17. Mumbai, in 24 hours, tested 8,579 samples, and the test positivity rate (TPR) for the day was 2.5%. Over the past few days, the TPR in Mumbai has been increasing steadily. On Wednesday, it crossed 2% and was at 2.2%. Over the past few days, it was under 1%.
Of the 223 Covid-19 cases, 216, or 97%, were asymptomatic, and seven patients needed hospitalisation, of which one patient needed an oxygen bed. Of the total 24,510 beds available for Covid-19, 35, or 0.14%, are occupied at present.
With the recovery rate maintained at 98%, 139 patients recovered from Covid-19 on Thursday. There are no active containment zones such as slums or chawls, and no sealed buildings in the city at present.
The state’s active case count climbed to 1,720 on Thursday. Mumbai tops the state with 1,086 active cases, followed by Pune district (314) and Thane (175). The state’s 95.05% of the active cases, or 1,635 cases, are from Mumbai, Pune, Thane, Palghar, and Raigad districts.
State health department officials said the surveillance and testing in these areas lead to more cases. “For instance, if there are 100 positive cases, the local administration would trace and test their close contacts, and low-risk contacts. Higher the cases, higher the tests which lead to more detection. Mumbai, Pune and Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) are densely populated areas, and it would have more transmission than rural areas,” said a senior health department official.
A chunk of the fresh cases continues to be reported from Mumbai, some cities and satellite towns in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, and Pune. Thane city reported 18 cases on Thursday. Pune city added 26 fresh Covid infections, while Pune rural areas saw six new cases, and Pimpri-Chinchwad reported five cases. Navi Mumbai reported nine new cases, while Vasai-Virar and Panvel added one and seven cases, respectively.
The state health department said that the situation is under control as the rate of hospitalisation and fatalities are not increasing. “Even if the cases are seeing some fluctuations, the hospitalisation remains low. The fatalities that are reported are in nil or in single digits,” said a health department official, who did not wish to be named.