Maharashtra Covid toll over 1.08 lakh, higher positivity rate in 9 districts

Public health department data shows, of 1,966 deaths reported on Saturday, 239 occurred in past 48 hours, 121 in past one week and at least 1,606 from the period before that.

Among districts that delayed reporting are Nashik that registered 315 deaths on Saturday, Nagpur (276 deaths), Pune (230), Satara (149), Ahmednagar (138) and Thane (126), while less than 100 deaths were reported each in 24 other districts.

Mumbai on Saturday reported 18 Covid-19 deaths, taking its toll to 15,097. There were 749 fresh cases, while active cases hover over 18,000. Mumbai’s daily positivity rate is down to 2.5 percent.

While the city has over 21,000 isolation beds available and all parameters indicate towards a declining trend, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has taken a conscious call to keep the existing restrictions in place for two weeks before local trains are made accessible and relaxation in market and shops are given.

“We are seeing that patients are dying after 2-3 weeks of struggle with infection. While cases are declining, case fatality rate will reduce much later. Right now, the state will continue to report high number of deaths,” said Dr Avinash Supe, chairman of the state death audit committee.

Maharashtra’s weekly positivity rate stands at 5.8 percent. Nine districts — Kolhapur, Raigad, Ratnagiri, Pune, Satara, Sindhudurg, Sangli, Thane and Aurangabad — have a higher positivity rate.

While all districts have shown a decline in positivity rate, Kolhapur has shown a spike in past two weeks, from May 29 to June 9. Its positivity rate stands at 16.06 percent, highest in the state.

The weekly growth rate in the state is 0.22 percent, but in 14 districts, it is higher than the state average. Across Maharashtra, there are 29,401 critically ill patients, of them, 10,848 are in ICU and 4,469 on ventilator support.