Friday, March 29, 2024

Maharashtra records 9,677 coronavirus cases; curbs back again as state sees first death due to ‘Delta Plus’ variant

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By PTI
MUMBAI: Maharashtra on Friday reported 9,677 new COVID-19 cases and 156 deaths, taking its infection tally to 60,17,035, and death toll to 1,20,370, the state health department said in a release.

Of 156 deaths, 117 occurred in the last 48 hours and 39 in the last one week.

Also, 355 deaths which had taken place earlier were added to cumulative tally on Friday.

The reconciliation of cases in Mumbai was complete with removal of duplication which brought down the caseload in the state capital by 4,467.

The state’s caseload too decreased by 73 after reconciliation of figures, the release said.

As many as 10,138 patients were discharged from hospitals on Friday, taking the total of recoveries to 57,72,799.

There are 1,20,715 active cases in the state now.

The recovery rate is 95.94 per cent while case fatality rate is two per cent.

There are 6,33,748 people in home quarantine while 4,248 are in institutional quarantine.

With 2,36,034 tests conducted on Friday, tally of samples tested for coronavirus reached 4,05,96,965.

Mumbai city reported 693 new cases taking its case tally to 7,18,962.

The city also added 20 deaths, taking its fatality count to 15,368.

The larger Mumbai division reported 2,076 cases of infection and 34 deaths, taking its caseload to 15,85,717 and death toll to 31,671.

Nashik division added 659 cases and 16 deaths, of which 10 deaths were reported from rural parts of Ahmednagar district.

Pune division’s caseload increased by 2,210.

Out of 20 deaths in the division, 14 were reported in Satara district.

Kolhapur division continued to report the highest number of cases among divisions with 3,854 infections coming to light on Friday.

Of these, 1,672 cases were found in rural parts of Kolhapur district.

Out of 55 deaths in the division, 24 were reported in rural parts of Kolhapur.

Aurangabad division’s caseload went up by 197 and it also added ten deaths.

Latur division reported 323 cases and 18 deaths.

Akola division reported 217 new cases of COVID-19 and three deaths, while Nagpur division added 141 cases.

There was no COVID-19 death in the entire Nagpur division on Friday, the release said.

Maharashtra’s coronavirus figures are as follows: Positive cases 60,17,035; New cases 9,677; Death toll 1,20,370; Recoveries 57,72,799; Active cases 1,20,715; Total tests 4,05,96,965.

As many as 50 lakh people including five lakh children could be infected in Maharashtra in a possible third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, state Food and Drug Administration Minister Rajendra Shingne said on Friday.

Talking to reporters at Buldhana, the minister said a third wave could have eight lakh active cases at its peak.

“About five lakh children may be infected, of which 2.5 lakh may need admission in government hospitals. All these possibilities were discussed during this week’s cabinet meeting chaired by chief minister Uddhav Thackeray,” he said.

The Maharashtra government was taking steps to face a possible third wave by ramping up health infrastructure, ensuring adequate stock of medicines and keeping ready healthcare staff including pediatriacians for deployment, Shingne added.

In view of cases of the Delta plus variant of COVID-19 emerging in Maharashtra, the state government on Friday announced ‘state-level trigger’ for imposing restrictions in administrative units irrespective of weekly positivity rate and oxygen bed occupancy percentage.

Weekly positivity rate regarding levels of restrictions will be determined on the basis of RT-PCR tests, and not rapid antigen or other tests, the state government said and described Delta plus as a variant of concern.

Restrictions in administrative units will remain at a level not below 3, according to new guidelines issued as part of a government notification which also calls for pushing for 70 per cent vaccination of eligible population in the state.

The move indicates tightening of restrictions to curb any surge in cases after some people were detected with the highly infectious Delta plus variant of coronavirus.

Delta plus has been declared a variant of concern by the Centre.

The notification amends the five-level unlock plan announced by the Maharashtra government earlier this month.

Delta plus cases have been found in Ratnagiri, Jalgaon and some other districts of the state, requiring stricter curbs, the notification said.

State-level trigger means that irrespective of the weekly positivity rate and oxygen bed occupancy, level 3 restrictions will continue in administrative units till the district disaster management authority takes a call to withdraw them, according to the notification.

Essential shops and establishments can remain open till 4pm on all days in areas falling under level 3 of the five-step unlock plan.

Non-essential shops and establishments can remain open till 4pm on weekdays, it said.

Restaurants will be allowed dine-in facility with 50 per cent capacity till 4pm on weekdays and takeaways and home deliveries after that, the notification said.

Use of suburban trains will be only for medical staff and personnel engaged in essential services, it said.

Gyms and salons will remain open till 4 pm at 50 per cent capacity, the government order said.

Level 3 curbs will be minimum and if they have to be lowered the disaster management authority will take a call, it said.

If there is an upward trend in number of coronavirus positive cases, the district disaster management authority will impose higher-level of restrictions, the order said.

Attempts must be made to achieve 70 per cent vaccination of eligible population and focus should on test, track and treat methodology to contain the spread of COVID-19, it said.

The government order said flying squads will enforce COVID-19-appropriate behaviour among people and impose fines for violations.

Earlier this month, Maharashtra had announced a five-step unlock plan after the deadly second wave of COVID-19 appeared to be ebbing.

Under the plan, restrictions in cities and districts were decided according to the weekly positivity rate and oxygen bed occupancy.

With Maharashtra becoming the first state in the country on Friday to administer three crore coronavirus vaccine jabs, the state government said it can cover the entire eligible population within the next three months if the supply by the Centre kept up.

Availability of vaccine doses was no longer an issue, state Health Minister Rajesh Tope said at `Digital Dialogue’, an event organized by his party, the NCP.

“Vaccine availability is not an issue now. We have administered over three crore doses so far, and with increased pace, Maharashtra can vaccinate its entire eligible population in the next three months,” he said.

“Maharashtra has the capacity to administer 10 lakh doses per day. If the Union government increases its supply to match the state’s capacity, we can vaccinate the entire population in three months,” he said.

As of Friday afternoon, Maharashtra had administered 3,00,27,217 vaccine doses.

Tope also said he has requested Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and Deputy CM Ajit Pawar to increase the budgetary allocation for the health department.

“The NITI Aayog has recommended an expenditure of five per cent of the GDP for the health sector. In reality, it is only 0.9 to 1 per cent. I have asked the government to increase the allocation so that more infrastructure can be developed,” he said.

There is scope to increase the number of primary healthcare centres, rural hospitals and sub-centres, the minister said, adding that the state health department was going to fill all 17,000 sanctioned posts soon.

on Friday reported the first death from the ‘Delta Plus’ variant of COVID-19, with an octogenarian woman succumbing in Ratnagiri civil hospital, a senior official said.

The woman hails from Sangameswar and was admitted to the hospital, over 330 kilometres from Mumbai, a few days ago, Sanjay Shinde, Additional Collector, Ratnagiri told PTI.

He said the woman’s death was being audited to see if she suffered from comorbidities.

Shinde said district officials have been told to increase awareness as well as sensitize people about appropriate COVID-19 behavior.

Forty-eight coronavirus cases of ‘Delta Plus’ variant have been detected from 45,000 samples sequenced so far in the country, with Maharashtra reporting the highest number of such cases at 20, the Centre said on Friday.

As per a PIB release, the characteristics of the Delta Plus variant include increased transmissibility, stronger binding to receptors of lung cells as well as potential reduction in monoclonal antibody response.

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