Mumbai: Maharastra reported a single-day spike of 1,134 Covid-19 cases on Friday, up from 1,045 on Thursday. Signalling a consistent surge in fresh cases, the state saw over 1,000 cases for the third day in a row. The number of deaths also rose to three from one on the previous day.
Confirming the trend, Mumbai reported 763 cases, which was the highest in the state, followed by Thane city (77), Pune city (72), Navi Mumbai (71), Mira Bhayander (33), Raigad (23), Vasai Virar (22) and Panvel (21).
Mumbai also accounted for a bulk of the 5,127 active cases at 3,735. While 26,285 tests were conducted in a 24-hour period (marginally down from 26,548 on Thursday), the positivity rate stands at 9.74%.
Pune city, Solapur district and Beed accounted for one death each on Friday.
The state government has done away with all Covid-19 related restrictions since 2 April, including the mask mandate in public places.
Dr Pradeep Vyas, additional chief secretary, public health, on Friday wrote to district collectors seeking increased in Covid-19 testing. The letter said that the shortfall in the number of weekly tests conducted was a “major point of concern.”
The proportion of RTPCR tests conducted out of total tests should be more than at least 60%.
Vyas has also sought an in-depth analysis of daily cases in terms of time, place and person (age, sex, etc) to formulate a local action plan, track the overall clinical specturm of cases, and analyse the proportion of the overall breakthrough and reinfection cases.
The weekly cases in Mumbai have soared by 93.99% in Mumbai between 19 to 25 May and 26 May to 1 June, while it is 218.18% in Nagpur, 300% in Ratnagiri and 150.40% in Thane, with the state average at 91.08%.
Currently, the proportion of patients on oxygen support was around 1.5% of active cases and hospital admissions are around 3%.
“However, the difference between the proportion of critical patients out of active patients, between the first and second fortnights of May 2022 has been found statistically significant, which points to a possibility of increase in this number in the near future,” warned Vyas, calling for a review of hospital infrastructure and Covid-19 facilities.
Dr Pradeep Awate, the state’s surveillance officer, on Friday said that the Covid-19 caseload in the state has increased over the past three weeks for several reasons.
“The mask mandate and Covid-related restrictions have been withdrawn and socio-economic activity has resumed. Vaccine-induced and natural immunity have also waned over time. The growth can also be attributed to a mutation in the virus and the seasonal pattern,” Awate said.
“The virus is gradually reaching an endemic stage. So, numbers will increase or fall depending on such variables… the transmissibility of the BA. 4 and BA. 5 variants is higher. But, no increase in severity has been observed and hospitalizations have also not increased. Most patients are asymptomatic or have mild symptoms,” he added.
Awate further stated that the chances of a fourth wave were slim as the BA.4 and BA.5 were sub-lineages of the known Omicron variant. He pointed to how the cases in Delhi had risen a few weeks ago, but had then plateaued and declined later.
Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray has already urged people to wear masks and follow Covid-appropriate behaviour. Deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar has warned that if the number of cases continues to rise, the state government may, on the advice of the task force, be compelled to re-impose some restrictions, including mandatory wearing of masks.