India / Mumbai records over 1.1k COVID-19 cases, 49 deaths in last 24 hrs

Hindustan Times : Aug 03, 2020, 09:11 AM
Mumbai: Maharashtra on Sunday recorded 9,509 fresh Covid-19 cases and 260 deaths, taking the tally to 441,228 and toll to 15,576, as the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) inched closer to the 10,000 mark for fatalities. MMR has reported 9,887 Covid-19 deaths.

The tally of active cases in the state stood at 148,537 as 9,926 patients were discharged on Sunday, taking the number of recoveries to 276,809.

Mumbai recorded 1,105 new cases, taking the city tally to 116,436, while 49 fatalities on Sunday took the death toll to 6,447. The state, on Sunday, tested 60,758 samples and had a positivity rate of 15.65%.

MMR and the Pune division, which comprises Pune city, Pune district, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Solapur, Solapur district, have contributed to 73% of the fatalities recorded on Sunday. MMR and Pune division has reported 190 of the 260 fatalities. The Pune division is expected to breach the 3,000 mark in a couple of days. So far, Pune division has reported 2,899 deaths.

MMR, excluding Mumbai, which saw a surge in fresh cases in July, also saw a chunk of its fatalities in the previous month. From July 1 to August 2, MMR alone has reported 2,274 deaths and 81,976 cases. MMR, excluding Mumbai, has nearly reported 3,500 fatalities since the outbreak. Of the total deaths, 66.10% of the fatalities were reported in the last 33 days.

The state health department is concerned over the case fatality rate (CFR) in the state and particularly in MMR, which is densely populated. Municipal bodies, including Bhiwandi-Nizampur Municipal Corporation, have reported a high mortality rate. As per the data of the state health department, Bhiwandi-Nizampur had the highest CFR in MMR of 6.05%, followed by Mumbai at 5.53%. Thane city had a CFR of 3.49%.

Pankaj Ashiya, municipal commissioner of Bhiwandi-Nizampur, said that the CFR in the city is on a downward trend now and fatalities that were recorded were in June due to unavailability of a dedicated COVID facility. “The doubling rate here is now 86 days, only the mortality rate is high, but we have it under control now. Earlier, we did not have a dedicated Covid facility. Patients chose to go to Thane and Mumbai, but then the situation in these cities was also bad. Now, the daily cases and deaths have reduced,” he said.

“The Thane district is a huge region and barring Thane city and parts of Navi Mumbai, the health infrastructure is weak. A central command centre in Thane is in the works to manage the availability of beds. With a central command centre, the cases that need beds urgently will get assistance and thereby helping in reducing deaths. The local civic bodies in the areas have been working aggressively to track suspected cased, people with co-morbidities are being identified to start treatment, like it was done in Mumbai,” said a senior health department official, who did not wish to be named.

The death toll in Pune city has touched 1,507 with 25 new fatalities, while the death toll in Pimpri-Chinchwad has touched 401 with 15 deaths on Sunday. Solapur city, in Pune division, has the highest CFR in the state at 7.47%. Solapur city has 387 deaths so far. On Sunday, Pune reported 1,762 new cases, while Pimpri-Chinchwad reported 734 new cases.

In other parts of Maharashtra, Nanded city and district reported 129 new cases each. Nanded district now has 1,077 cases. Nagpur city reported 144 new cases, taking city’s tally to 3674. Nagpur district reported 101 new cases. Amravati reported 72 cases, while Yavatmal and Buldhana reported 63 and 41 new cases respectively on Sunday. Beed and Osmandabad in Marathwada region reported 85 and 88 cases respectively. Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg districts in Konkan region saw 94 and 25 cases respectively.

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