MUMBAI: The positivity rate among Covid patients is significantly dropping in Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur. But the tribal district of Nandurbar has been recording high mortality for the last two weeks in Maharashtra.
The state government’s weekly report said mortality in Nandurbar between May 5 and May 11 was 5.70%, higher than the state average of 1.35%.
Mortality between April 28 and May 2 was 3.60% in Nandurbar against the state average of 1.34%. In April 21-27, it was 1.14% in the district.
Nanded follows Nandurbar in the Marathwada region which has been witnessing a high mortality of 3.76% over the last three weeks. It had 3.35% mortality between April 28 and May 4 and 5.57% last week, said the report.
Latur and Osmanabad are the other two districts in Marathwada which have registered high mortality — 2.54% and 2.39%, respectively, between May 5-11.
Interestingly, mortality in Maharashtra has also been rising for three weeks. It was 0.64% between April 14 and April 20. The rate rose to 1.08% from April 21-27 and crept up 1.34% in April 28-May 4.
Last week (May 5-11), the mortality rate was 1.32% in the state. Nandurbar has reported 2,691 active cases and 688 cumulative deaths. In Maharashtra, there are 5,46,129 active cases with 78,007 cumulative deaths.
Dr Rajendra Barud, collector of Nandurbar, told the paper that positivity was only 5%.
“We are getting less than 100 positive patients daily from the entire district, but only 5-6 people have succumbed. Besides, there are some backlog deaths that were added this week. However, positivity and mortality are normal at 5% and 1.07% respectively. We are trying to ensure that no one dies of Covid 19,” said Barud.
He said after the second wave, Nandurbar is the only district to not face oxygen shortage.
“We set up generation plants after the first wave. That is helping in a big way. Situation is under control,” he said.
The state reported 42,582 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, a drop of nearly 4,200 infections from a day ago, while 850 more patients succumbed to the disease, the state health department said.
With the addition of 42,582 COVID-19 cases, down from 46,781 on Wednesday, the state's caseload increased to 52,69,292, while the death toll reached 78,857, it said.
On Tuesday, Maharashtra had reported 40,956 COVID-19 cases, 793 deaths and 71,966 recoveries.
Of the 850 fatalities, 409 had occurred in the past 48 hours, 160 last week and the rest 281 before the last week but were added to the toll on Thursday, the department said.
Once again, recoveries outnumbered new cases.
As many as 54,535 patients were discharged from hospitals during the day, taking the total recoveries to 46,54,731, the department said.
Maharashtra now has 5,33,294 active cases.
The state's COVID-19 recovery rate stood at 88.34 per cent, while the fatality rate was 1.50 per cent, it said.
The case positivity rate (percentage of tested people turning out to be positive for COVID-19) was 17.36 per cent, the department said.
Mumbai city registered 1,952 new cases, taking its tally to 6,83,185, while the state capital's fatality count rose to 14,040 with 68 new deaths.
The larger Mumbai administrative division, which includes the city and its satellite towns, reported 5,953 fresh coronavirus cases and 183 deaths.
After Mumbai, 52 deaths were reported in Kalyan Dombivali Municipal Corporation areas followed by 17 in Palghar district and 13 in Thane district, the department said.
The Nashik division reported 6,506 new cases and 129 deaths.
A majority of infections were reported from Nashik district (1,469) and Ahmednagar district (2,370).
Out of 129 fatalities in the Nashik division, 35 and 21 people died in rural parts of Nashik and in the city respectively, while 27 patients succumbed in Jalgaon district followed by 16 in Nandurbar and 13 in Ahmednagar district.
The Pune divisions caseload remained on higher side with 12,619 new infections and 126 deaths.
Of these, Pune rural accounted for 4,050 cases, indicating the infection spread in villages.
Other districts and main cities in the division also reported cases in four digits - 2,451 in Pune city, 2,427 in its neighbouring town Pimpri-Chinchwad, 1,569 in Solapur rural and 1,997 in Satara district.
Out of 126 deaths in the division, 30 were reported in Pune city, 22 in Pune rural, 34 in Solapur rural and 32 in Satara, the department said.
The Kolhapur division reported 4,467 new cases and 79 deaths.
Of the new infections, Kolhapur and Sangli districts contributed 1,144 and 1,229, respectively, it said.
Out of 79 fatalities in the Kolhapur division, 34 occurred in Ratnagiri, 21 in Sangli and 11 in Sindhudurg, the department said.
The Aurangabad division added 1,870 cases, while 30 patients succumbed to the infection, 14 of them in Jalna district alone.
The Latur division added 2,459 COVID-19 cases of which 1,018 came from Beed district alone.
Out of 105 deaths in the Latur division, 62 were reported from Beed and 22 from Osmanabad, the department said.
The Akola division reported 4,056 new COVID-19 cases, including 1,847 in Buldhana district and 610 in Amravati.
Also, 57 deaths were reported in the Akola division of which 23 were from Yavatmal and 11 each from Buldana and Washim districts.
The Nagpur division's caseload went up by 4,652, including 1,286 in Nagpur city and 949 in rural parts of the Vidarbha district.
Nagpur city accounted for 46 of the 141 deaths in the division, while other major contributers included - 25 in Wardha, 23 in Chandrapur, 19 in Gadchiroli and 18 in Nagpur rural.
With 2,50,398 more coronavirus tests conducted in the state, the number of samples examined so far rose to 3,03,51,356, the department said.
Maharashtra's COVID-19 figures are as follows: Positive cases: 52,69,292; new cases 42,582; death toll 78,857; discharged 46,54,731; active cases: 5,33,294; people tested so far 3,03,51,356.
(With PTI Inputs)