PUNE: Maharashtra has reported a steady rise in Covid-19 cases every day over the past eight days, but there has been little change in the number of deaths during the same period.
On February 14, the state had reported 4,092 cases and 40 fatalities. A week later, on February 21, the figures were 6,971 cases and 35 fatalities. While the rise in cases was over 50% during this period, there was no increase in deaths.
State disease surveillance officer Pradip Awate said, “The fatality rate in Maharashtra has been going down on a week-on-week basis. In fact, in the last week, the rate was less than 1%. The rise in Covid-19 infections are due to several reasons but deaths have remained low.”
According to data from the state public health department, Mumbai and Nagpur municipal corporations reported fatalities on all days of the past week (February 14-21), though the daily numbers were in single digits. At the same time, Kolhapur, Dhule and Malegaon municipal corporations did not report even a single death during the same period.
In the Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad municipal corporations, no fatality was reported on three days during the week, while the Aurangabad, Thane, Jalgaon and Ahmednagar municipal corporations did not report a single death for almost five consecutive days. The Nashik civic body reported either one or three deaths daily on six days during the week.
Awate explained that clinical management and evolution of a set protocol for handling Covid-19 cases has helped keep a check on fatalities. “Importantly, there is awareness and we are seeing patients reporting symptoms at an early stage. There is also a good referral system that has evolved for handling Covid-19 patients,” he said.
Awate said they are conducting a death audit regularly to keep a close watch on the reasons for casualties and work on remedial steps that can be taken.