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Pune district’s weekly Covid positivity rate has dropped below 5 per cent in the week from September 15 to 21, according to a new state Health Department analysis. The positivity rate, however, remains higher than the state average, which also dipped to 2.28 percent.
Dr Pradeep Vyas, additional chief secretary (health), Maharashtra has urged district administrations to expedite the vaccination process and inoculate people in large numbers.
“We have to be vigilant for any rise in Covid-19 cases post Ganpati celebrations,” Dr Vyas told The Indian Express, adding that testing also should be increased in addition to maintaining social distancing and other measures.
In the week from September 15 to 21, the Covid positivity rate in Pune district was 4.62 per cent as against the previous week’s rate of 5.82 per cent. In the week before that — September 1 to 7 – the district had registered a Covid positivity rate of 6.33 per cent.
In Pune Municipal Corporation area, the daily Covid positivity rate is nearly 3 per cent, said Dr Sanjeev Wavare, assistant health chief of PMC. The city has also seen some cases of breakthrough infections, he said.
In Ahmednagar district, which has recently seen a high number of Covid-19 cases along with Pune, the Covid positivity rate in the week of September 15 to 21 dropped to 4.78 per cent as against the previous week, when it was 5.52 per cent.
According to the state Health Department report, along with Ahmednagar and Pune, Sangli, Sindhudurg, Osmanabad, Nashik, Palghar and Satara districts right now have weekly Covid positivity rates higher than the state average.
Last week, Pune district had 22 per cent of the total Covid-19 cases in the state while Ahmednagar and Mumbai accounted for 20 and 13 per cent, respectively. Between September 15 and 21, a total of 23,482 new Covid-19 cases were reported in the state, of which 9,252 were from Pune, 4,550 from Ahmednagar, 3,108 from Mumbai, 1,879 from Thane and 1,706 from Solapur.
The state currently has 41,672 active cases of Covid-19, of which 44.3 per cent are hospitalised. A total of 7,044 patients are critical, of which 2,829 require intensive care.
7.5 crore vaccine doses administered across Maharashtra till now
A total of 7.5 crore vaccine doses have been administered in Maharashtra so far, of which 5.36 crore beneficiaries have got the first dose while 2.13 crore are fully vaccinated with both doses. Of these, 1.34 crore people in the age group of 45 and above have got both doses while over 51 lakh people between 18-44 years have been fully vaccinated.
Dr Vyas said the maximum vaccinations in a single day were achieved on September 8 (over 15 lakh ), September 18 (over 13 lakh), September 17 (over 12 lakh), September 4 (over 12 lakh) and August 21 (over 11 lakh).
Private hospitals in the state accounted for 1.1 crore of the 7.5 crore vaccine doses. In private hospitals across Mumbai, over 45 lakh vaccine doses were administered while more than 28 lakh vaccine doses were administered across private hospitals in Pune.
Thane, Aurangabad, Raigad, Palghar, Nashik, Satara and Kolhapur districts are among districts where more than one lakh doses were administered in private hospitals. Over 68 lakh people have been vaccinated with the first dose of the vaccine in Pune district while more than 30 lakh are fully vaccinated.