Maharashtra crosses 1.5 lakh mark, records 5,024 Covid cases-most in a day

Over the last two days, Maharashtra has added 9,865 cases. The state’s toll stands at 7,106 with 175 deaths registered on Friday.

The share of Mumbai in the state’s case count has shrunk significantly over the last 10 days – from 53 per cent to 47.2 per cent between June 16 to June 26. Mumbai recorded 1,297 new infections on Friday, reaching 72,175 cases. It recorded 117 deaths, taking the overall toll to 4,179.

Of the remaining 3,727 cases recorded in the state, 1,383 were from Thane and 1,016 from Pune. Thane has now started surpassing Mumbai when it comes to single-day case count. On Thursday, while Thane recorded 1,608 new cases, Mumbai recorded 1,350. Thane currently contributes to 20 per cent of the total cases in the state and Pune 12 per cent.

Experts pointed that one reason why Mumbai’s case load is reducing is due to its consistent testing. The city tests around 4,500 to 5,000 people every day. It has so far tested over 3 lakh people and had not scaled up its testing when compared to other districts since a week.

In contrast, number of tests conducted across Maharashtra has increased from around 17,000 until a fortnight ago to 20,000 per day.

The consistent testing has reduced Mumbai’s share of cases in Maharashtra to 50.3 per cent on June 21. It further dipped to 47.9 per cent on

June 24. On March 31, Mumbai had accounted for 50 per cent of all the state’s cases. On April 30, it was 67.2 per cent.

Meanwhile, of the 175 deaths reported across the state on Friday, 91 had occurred in the last 48 hours. The rest of the patients had died before June 24.

Of the 91, 44 died in Mumbai, 14 each in Pune and Aurangabad, eight in Nashik, two each in Ulhasnagar, Latur, Nanded and Akola and one each in Kolhapur, Nagpur and Gondia. Of the 84 patients who died before June 24, at least 73 are from Mumbai.

Mumbai continues to report a significant number of deaths that had remained unreported over the last three months. The city so far has recorded 4,179 deaths with a death rate of 5.7 per cent. Maharashtra’s death rate stands at 4.65 per cent.

In wake of a substantial spike in cases in Thane, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Friday instructed the municipal corporations in the district to focus on contact tracing.

“Containing the spread of coronavirus in Thane district is very much required. All municipal corporations must focus on tracking and tracing contracts of the positive patients… Serious contact tracing on the lines of Mumbai and other districts is required,” Uddhav said in a meeting with municipal commissioners from the district.

Earlier this week, the commissioners of Thane, Mira-Bhayander and Ulhasnagar civic bodies were transferred by Uddhav following a fresh surge in cases.