MUMBAI: Maharashtra government has identified the 25 municipal corporation areas where 95 per cent of COVID-19 positive patients and deaths are reported.
State chief secretary Ajoy Mehta said that rather than waiting for people to get the infection, the government has started 'Chase the Coronavirus' initiative. In Maharashtra, there are a total of 2816 containment zones.
He said that this initiative will help to contain the spreading of the virus.
“Our mantra is testing, tracing and isolation of COVID-19 suspects. We have started the door-to-door survey with the 16000 heath workers. 66 lakh people have already been screened. That is six per cent of the total population. The coronavirus is mostly spread in the urban body localities while in rural areas, there is no major spread so far,” said Mehta.
Mehta said that in March, they used to conduct 500 to 600 COVID-19 swab tests. However, today they are testing 13000 tests daily.
“Besides, initially there were only two labs to conduct the swab tests – one state and the other central government-run. Now, we have got 72 labs and in future, more labs are planned to conduct speedy testing and for early results. All these measures had helped to slow down the spread of the virus. Earlier the doubling time was four days, now it is taking more than 14 days. Moreover, the mortality rate is also low. Earlier, it was 7.6 per cent, more than India’s and the world's average mortality rate. Now, it is 3.6 per cent that is close to India’s average mortality rate,” Mehta informed.
Mehta said that the major relief was that 75 to 80 per cent of the patients are asymptomatic and getting cured after proper treatment.
He said that the task force of expert doctors is helping identify issues and also resolving them immediately.
“We have also shared the doctors' numbers with the hospitals so that any hospital can call them and put forth their issues and address it real time,” Mehta added.
State Health Minister Rajesh Tope on Friday said 1,200 beds in 53 hospitals in the state have been taken over by the government for treatment of both coronavirus and non-coronavirus patients.
In a video statement, he also noted that of some 33,000 active cases in the state, 83 per cent are asymptomatic while 15 to 16 per cent have mild to moderate symptoms.
The beds that the government has taken over include ICU beds, where hospitals will charge the rates prescribed by the state government.
The 1,200 beds in 53 hospitals will make up for the ICU bed shortage, he said.
Tope also expressed happiness about the rate of recovery of coronavirus patients and the discharge of a record 8,381 patients on Friday.
Maharashtra on Friday recorded 2,682 new coronavirus cases and 116 deaths, but the day also saw a record number of patients being discharged from hospitals, the state health department said.
The total number of coronavirus cases in the state is now at 62,228 while the total number of deaths is at 2,098.
Out of the 116 deaths in the state on Friday, 38 were reported from Mumbai and 58 from the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) which covers Mumbai and surrounding areas.
The number of recovered patients in the state has jumped to 26,998, the health department said in a release.
715 patients were discharged in Mumbai alone.
The total number of active cases in the state is 33,133 and so far 4,33,557 samples have been tested, the release added.
Mumbai has recorded 36,932 coronavirus cases and 1,173 deaths so far while 16,008 patients have recovered in the state capital.
The Mumbai Metropolitan Region has reported 47,482 cases and 1,397 deaths.
Pune city has reported 6,321 cases and 296 deaths.
Solapur city had reported 727 cases and 60 deaths, Aurangabad city 1,380 cases and 64 deaths, Malegaon city 732 cases and 52 deaths.
The patient doubling rate -- the number of days during which the number of cases doubles -- in the state now is 15.7 days from the 11 days last week, the release said.
The recovery rate in Maharashtra is 43.38 per cent and the mortality rate 3.37 percent.
Currently, 5,35,467 people are in-home quarantine and 35,967 in institutional quarantine.
(With Agencies Inputs)