All Vidarbha districts may be in level 1 of unlock today

NAGPUR: June 11 will be the first Friday when all districts in Maharashtra will review the Covid-19 unlock situation and decide which level they have reached. Currently, Nagpur, Chandrapur, Gondia and Yavatmal are at level 1 for districts having less than 5% positivity rate and oxygen bed occupancy of less than 25%.
Almost all the remaining seven districts are most likely to upgrade to level 1, thanks to their good show in the last week.Every district, especially Bhandara, Gondia and Amravati are conducting high number of tests. Nagpur has maintained the average 10,000 tests per day despite low positivity rate. The overall test positivity rate of all districts in Vidarbha is comfortably less than 5%.
Second important parameter is the oxygen bed availability in districts. On Thursday, 11,522 patients were under treatment in the region. Majority of them are in home isolation. On June 10, Amravati was the only district to have more than 2,500 patients under treatment. Wardha, Bhandara, Gondia, Gadchiroli and even Buldhana have less than 500 patients each under treatment. This indicates that most districts will qualify even on the oxygen bed parameter.
On Thursday, the region reported 667 new cases, lowest in the second wave, even as more than 40,000 tests were conducted. The recoveries (1,966) were near three times of new cases. The region’s recovery rate has surged to 97%.
The region’s cumulative toll crossed 20,000 after death of 25 patients on Thursday. The last 1,000 deaths were reported in 17 days – the longest period in the second wave. During peak, more than 5,600 deaths were reported in 30 days of April. Even May reported 5,000+ deaths. June has seen a big relief so far. Still, case fatality rate is more than 1.8% in Vidarbha.
Amravati: A spike of 126 cases and four deaths took the district's caseload to 94,750 and toll to 1,516 respectively on Thursday. With 288 cases getting discharged, the recoveries reached 90,698. This left 2,536 active cases under treatment.
Yavatmal: The district recorded 2 deaths on Thursday which took the toll to 1,786. The administration has received 2895 test reports of which 30 (20 men and 10 women) were found positive. Currently there are 622 active positive patients of whom 192 are admitted in the hospitals and 430 are in home quarantine. Of 72,504 positive patients 70,099 including 75 on Thursday have recovered and discharged on Thursday. The test positivity rate is 11% and the death rate is 2.46%.
Wardha: No deaths were reported in the district on Thursday. Out of 1,792 reports 60 patients tested positive for coronavirus, taking the total to 48,962. Meanwhile, 120 patients were discharged and recoveries increased to 47,135, leaving 499 active positive on Thursday. New cases were reported from Wardha (33), Deoli (14), Hinganghat (8), Ashti (2), Selu (1) and other districts (2). Toll remained at 1,310.
Chandrapur: There were 88 new cases, while 177 patients were discharged on Thursday leaving 1,179 active patients under treatment. Two deaths were registered during the day taking the toll to 1,490. Covid caseload has climbed to 83,965, while total recoveries amount to 81,296.
Bhandara: For the seventh consecutive day, Bhandara’s test positivity rate was below 3%. On Thursday, out of 1,575 tests, only four came positive, which means test positivity of less than 0.5%. With only 467 patients under treatment, and majority of them under home isolation, Bhandara has less than 10% of its oxygen beds occupied. This means, more relaxations are likely in this district from Monday.
Gondia: The district, which is already in level 1 of unlock, has improved on both parameters – test positivity rate and O2 bed availability. Out of 3,864 tests conducted in the last 24 hours, only 19 came positive which means test positivity of 0.49%. The district also has 859 oxygen beds. Of th 264 patients under treatment, 210 are in home isolation. No death was reported on Thursday.
Gadchiroli: Out of more than 1,000 tests conducted in last 24 hours, 51 came positive. The positivity rate is going down but not steadily like other districts in Nagpur division. The district is in level 3 of unlock and likely to get an upgrade on Friday. Two deaths were reported on Thursday. Now, the district’s cumulative toll is 731 and 430 patients are under treatment.
Akola: Daily testing count is still limited in Akola as compared to other districts of Amravati division. Of the 1,770 tests conducted in the last 24 hours, 81 came positive. Akola is presently at level 3 and likely to move up. Now, 1,929 patients are under treatment. One death was reported on Thursday which took the toll to 1,106.
Buldhana: The district conducted 4,020 tests and 42 of them came positive. Buldhana was in level 3 of unlock and is most likely to upgrade to level 1 on Friday as the test positivity was constantly less than 5% in the last seven days. With 339 patients recovered in a day, Buldhana has less than 500 patients under treatment, which means the district will also qualify in O2 bed parameter.
Washim: The district reported 75 new cases, 110 recoveries and three deaths on Thursday. Now, of the 40,901 patients reported so far, 3,9530 have recovered while 596 have succumbed to Covid-19. Now, 774 patients are under treatment.