Maharashtra appeared to be peaking in terms of Covid 19-triggered fatalities and infections on Wednesday, as it notched the highest-ever day’s tally on 122 deaths and as many as 2,560 more people tested positive for the pandemic in various parts of the State.
With the fresh deaths and infections, the total number of deaths in Maharashtra jumped to 2,587 while the total number of infected cases went up to 74,860 in the State.
The worsening situation in the State can be evidence from the fact that there have been a total of 816 deaths in Maharashtra during the previous nine days.
On May 26 (Tuesday) the state had witnessed 97 deaths, while there were 105 deaths on May 27, 85 deaths on May 28, 116 deaths on May 29 and 99 deaths on May 30, 89 deaths on May 31, 76 on June 1 and 103 on June 3. Wednesday’s toll was 122.
Of the deaths reported on Wednesday, Mumbai accounted for 49, while there were 19 deaths, 16 in Aurangabad, ten deaths in Solapur, four in Dhule, three each in Ulhasnagar, Navi Mumbai, two deaths in Thane, Jalgaon, Akola and Kolhapur and one death each in Bhayandar, Vasai-Virar, Ahmednagar, Bhiwand, Nandurbar, Jalna and Osmanabad. In addition, one resident each of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal died in Mumbai. With 32329 patients having so far been discharged after full recovery from various hospitals, the health authorities pegged the total number of “active cases” in the state at 39935.
Of those whose death was reported on Wednesday, 71 were men while 51 were women. Sixty nine of them were aged over 60 years, 46 were from the age group 40 to 59 years and 7 were aged below 40 years. “Eighty eight out of 122 patients (72%) had high-risk co-morbidities such as diabetes, hypertension, heart disease,” the state health bulletin said.
Out of the total deaths reported on Wednesday, 57 deaths occurred in the last two days and the rest are from the period April 30 to May 31. With 49 new deaths and 1276 positive cases, the total number of deaths in Mumbai mounted to 1417, while the total number of infected cases rose to 43492. The authorities pegged the “active cases” in Mumbai at 24597.
Some of key observations made in Wednesday’s health bulletin were: The recovery rate in the state is 43.18 per cent. The case fatality rate in the state is 3.45 per cent. Currently, 5,71,915 people are in home quarantine. There are 71,912 beds available in quarantine institutions. As many as 33,674 people are in institutional quarantine now.
In a related development, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has apprehended that post cyclone and rains, there could be rise in cases like monsoon related diseases in addition to corona virus illness.
In its health bulletin issued on Wednesday, the BMC advised the citizens not to ignore any fever and not to self-medicate “Please watch out for any symptoms for next 7 to 10 days. If any symptoms appears like feverØ with chills, joint pains, rashes, cough, breathlessness, diarohea, vomiting, sore throat, jaundice, then immediately visit nearby dispensary or inform the Community health Volunteer or consult your doctors, the BMC told Mumbaikars in its advisory.
“All high risk citizens having co-morbidities should continue to take their prescribedØ medicines and senior citizens to take special care and not to go out of the house,” the bulletin said.
“Please keep your premises and surrounding areas clean, clear the odd articles such as tins,Ø thermocol boxes, coconut shells, tyres, unused articles etc. to prevent mosquito breeding dispose garbage properly in bins not on roads / open areas,” the bulletin told the citizens.
“Please consume home-made cooked food only. Avoid all outside food sold on footpaths. Continue to follow Hand Hygiene, Cough etiquettes, physical distancing and wearØ masks for prevention of covid 19,” the BMC advisory added.