The Navi Mumbai resident had been on leave since May as he belonged to the high-risk category and tested positive on June 6. (Representational)
Four Mumbai policemen succumbed to Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, the worst single day toll for the police force. With the four deaths, the toll in the city police force rose to 26. The toll in Maharashtra also continued to rise with 113 deaths, taking the total to 3,830. The state on Saturday saw 3,427 new cases, taking the tally to 1,04,568.
Mumbai, with 1,380 new cases and 69 deaths on Saturday, saw its tally go up to 56,831 with 2,113 deaths. Mumbai contributes 40 per cent of state’s new cases. Until a month ago, on May 13, Mumbai accounted for 53 per cent of new cases in the state. Health officials say the reduction in Mumbai’s share over the month is not because of any dip in numbers, in absolute numbers it has in fact grown. The reduction is attributed to rise in cases in rural areas after the migrant movement.
Mumbai leads in number of new cases, followed by Thane (863) and Pune (441). Thane has now reached 17,306 mark, and Pune 11,722. State officials said districts have been asked to feed data of positive cases directly on a common portal called CV Analytics. Until now private laboratories and districts were feeding data on multiple portals leading to discrepancies in figure. In a massive data reconciliation exercise to have uniform Covid-19 reporting numbers, on June 11 state health secretary Dr Pradeep Vyas wrote to all districts to ensure Covid-19 reported cases have been fed and reconciled to match CV analytics and health ministry’s portal.
Meanwhile, while India’s recovered patient count has surpassed active cases, in Maharashtra the active cases (51,379) are still higher than recovered patients (49,346).
There are 5.83 lakh people under home quarantine in the state, and 79,074 under institutional quarantine. With 97 laboratories, of them 42 private, Maharashtra is doing around 15,000 tests on an average. Mumbai used to contribute to bulk of its testing, but now the city conducts less than 5,000 tests per day. BMC officials say the city has reached a saturation level and has been aggressively testing since the beginning.
But analysis of the positivity rate shows the number of people testing positive against total tests done has been rising each day indicating faster transmission of virus in the community. Mumbai’s positivity rate stands at over 22 per cent.
Across Maharashtra the positivity rate stands at 16. 3 per cent.
Meanwhile, Mumbai has been able to collect plasma donated by 31 recovered Covid-19 patients. Till now six patients in Nair and seven in Kasturba hospital have received plasma therapy. The treatment will be provided in Sion, Dr RN Cooper and KEM hospital as well.
Of the four policemen who died, Assistant Sub Inspector Dipak Lole (57) was posted in the office of Joint Commissioner (Law and Order) Vinoy Kumar Chaubey. He passed away at D Y Patil Hospital in Nerul at 8.25 am on Saturday.
The Navi Mumbai resident had been on leave since May as he belonged to the high-risk category and tested positive on June 6. After his condition worsened, he was put on ventilator support on Thursday, said a senior Mumbai Police officer.
Late on Friday night, 47-year-old Constable Sandesh Keni passed away at Star Hospital in Nallasopara. A beat marshal posted at Borivali police station, Keni was admitted to the hospital on June 6 after testing positive. Keni’s colleagues described him as being very fit and not suffering from any comorbidities.
At 11.10 pm, Head Constable Hemant Kumbhar passed away at Seven Hills Hospital in Marol after battling the virus since June 4. 52-year-old Kumbhar, who was diabetic, was quarantined after his immediate superior, the Police Inspector (Crime) at Dindoshi police station tested positive. The Inspector has since recovered.
The third casualty on Saturday night was constable Anil Kamble of Vakola police station. The 57-year-old died at Niron Hospital in Santacruz East within hours of testing positive and being admitted there. Kamble had also been on leave since May, said the police.
More than 2,000 personnel in the Mumbai Police have tested positive so far, of whom 1,738 belong to the constabulary. 224 personnel are currently being treated in hospitals.
Giving the rising number of infections in its ranks, the Mumbai Police launched a dedicated 24×7 Covid-19 helpline on Friday to help its personnel get tested, transport positive patients to Covid Care Centres and hospitals, make ambulances available and shift critical patients to hospitals equipped with oxygen supply and ventilators, and counsel patients and their families.