MUMBAI: For the first time in seven months, the city recorded less than 10 Covid-19 deaths in 24 hours. Mumbai saw nine coronavirus deaths, taking the toll to 10,893 on Tuesday. The last time the city recorded less than nine deaths was on May 1, when five lives were lost. While the city’s overall Covid fatality rate remained at 3.8%, the monthly death rate fell to 2%.
The state recorded 95 deaths on Tuesday, a marginal increase from Monday’s 80, taking the overall toll to 47,246. Most deaths came from Pune circle, including 25 from Pune city and 11 from Satara. From Mumbai metropolitan region, Thane city recorded five deaths, after Mumbai. As per state officials, of the 95 deaths, 32 occurred within the past 48 hours, while 20 were last week. The remaining 43 were a week back, of which 22 were in Pune.
BMC chief I S Chahal said the fall in deaths was seen since ‘Mission Save Lives’ was started in July. “Mortality rates have continuously and steadily reduced to approximately 2% over the last two months,” he said, adding the aim was to bring it down to 1%. Of the nine deaths in the city, six patients had comorbidities, while five were age above 60.
There was also a dip in cases across Maharashtra as well as Mumbai. Maharashtra reported 4,930 new cases and 95 fatalities, highest in the last 10 days. The total caseload of the state stood at 18,28,826 cases and total fatalities stood at 47,246. In the month of November, the state added over 1.4 lakh cases, which is less than half of the 2.9 lakh cases detected in October. It also reported 2,842 fatalities, nearly 60% lower than the 7,036 recorded in October.
Doctors said while the dip in deaths in Mumbai was a good sign, care needs to be taken to protect senior citizens and those with comorbidities. “Now a majority of the deaths are seen in senior citizens and those with underlying health conditions,” said Dr Avinash Supe, head of the death audit committee, adding that the city may continue to see a few deaths given its high burden of comorbid population.
There was a dip in active cases in the state as daily recoveries were higher than additions. A total of 6,290 people recovered on Tuesday, taking recoveries to 16.9 lakh, and active cases in the state were 89,098, of which 15,078 were in Mumbai.
Dahanu locals’ timings restored
WR restored timings, revised during lockdown, of Dahanu Road locals from December 3. Dahanu-Churchgate that left at 4.40am will leave at 5.40am; Dahanu-Virar that left at 5.40am will now leave at 7.34am; Virar-Dahanu and Churchgate Dahanu will leave at 5am and 9.10am respectively.
ILO bulletin takes note of BEST’s efforts for Covid-affected staffers
BEST has been appreciated in the official bulletin of the International Labour Organization (Geneva) for its work in the pandemic for its employees. The bulletin took note of its work under the heading ‘Health and Wellness approach of BEST Mumbai India helped it to deal with Covid 19.’ Officials praised the work done by the BEST medical team headed by Dr Anil Kumar Singal. “It was team work as we worked round-the-clock to save frontline workers who were infected. We have ensured that 2,686 patients have recovered so far of a total 2,833 Covid cases among staffers,” Singal said.