Maharashtra COVID-19 mortality rate falling, says government 

MUMBAI: Maharashtra might have witnessed the highest number of coronavirus positive cases and deaths in India, but the mortality rate among COVID-19 patients in the state has begun to fall.

Earlier, the rate was around seven per cent but it has now come down to 4.4 per cent.

According to data released by the state's public health department, this rate is in comparison to a world average of 6.93 per cent and an India average of 3.16 per cent.

Maharashtra has a total of 6817 coronavirus positive cases. It has witnessed 301 COVID-19 deaths to date. India, meanwhile, has seen 24,942 cases and 779 deaths.

Gujarat has got the second-highest number of cases after Maharashtra. Delhi and Madhya Pradesh follow.

When it comes to mortality rates, Maharashtra stands fifth in the country.

Meghalaya has recorded the highest mortality rate until now. Punjab, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat also have a higher mortality rate than Maharashtra at present.

There are a few states with zero mortality rates. These include Goa, Arunachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Tripura, Pondicherry, Ladakh, Mizoram and Manipur.

In Maharashtra, the hotpots are the Mumbai Metropolitan region and Pune from where 80 per cent of coronavirus cases and deaths have been reported.

Rajesh Tope, Maharashtra's health minister, said that his government is doing everything to contain the outbreak of the coronavirus.

"We have so far run over one lakh swab tests in Maharashtra. Out of 1,02,189 samples tested till now, 94,485 have turned out negative while 6817 have come out positive. Besides this, 1,19,161 people have been home quarantined while 8814 are kept in institutional isolation. We have also started the first plasma therapy centre in Kolhapur where 'convalescent plasma therapy' and 'pool testing' will be done," Tope said.

He explained how the convalescent plasma therapy works. 

"The therapy uses the plasma of a patient who has recovered from COVID-19. This contains antibodies with the specific ability to fight the novel coronavirus. These antibodies will then target and fight the virus in the body of another patient. We are hoping for positive results," the health minister added.

Details of affected regions:

Mumbai
Cases - 4447, Deaths - 178, Recovered - 559

Thane
Cases - 220, Deaths - 6, Recovered - 12

Navi Mumbai
Cases - 125, Deaths - 4, Recovered - 13

Pune
Cases - 848, Deaths - 63, Recovered - 164 

Malegaon 
Cases - 116, Deaths - 11, Recovered - 3

Nagpur 
Cases - 99, Deaths - 1, Recovered - 17
 
Aurangabad 
Cases - 42, Deaths - 5, Recovered - 23