Maharashtra Covid lockdown news: State reports 31,643 new cases, 102 deaths

Around 20 of every 100 Covid-19 positive patients admitted in two state government hospitals — Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) and Indira Gandhi Government Medical College and Hospital (IGGMCH) — have died in the year-long pandemic. The case fatality rate (CFR) of these two hospitals is nine times the overall CFR of the district. The district civil surgeon data says 8,515 positive patients were admitted in IGGMCH and 7,587 in GMCH for a total of 16,102 between March 11, 2020, and March 28 this year. It is 7.36% of total positive patients (2,188,20).

A day after private Covid hospitals pressed the panic button, NMC issued a strict advisory barring them from referring serious patients to public hospitals without confirming bed and ventilator availability. It said “many deaths were being reported on way, just before or after arrival”. Private hospitals hit back saying continued lack of oxygen and ventilators was forcing them to transfer patients to medical colleges or other hospitals.

Already running short of beds and oxygen supply, private hospitals are now searching ventilators as more Covid patients are turning critical. But many hospitals are on the waitlist for as long as a month to get the life-saving equipment delivered. Being a high-value equipment, ventilators are not stocked by dealers and suppliers but requisitioned through orders from different cities and countries. Hospital administrations are not even able to get a single ventilator on rent either.

The Nashik city police have issued prohibitory orders under section 144 of the CrPC in a bid to ensure that Dhulivandan-related programmes on Monday (March 29) and Rang panchami events on Friday (April 2) do not take place in the old city area. A release by the police said that on the occasion of Dhulivandan, every year, a large number of people gather at the Ramkund and Godaghat areas to play with colours. At the same time, processions of Veers are also an annual feature in the old city area. These processions pass through the jurisdictions of the Bhadrakali, Sarkarwada and Panchavati police stations and also attract large crowds.

Only 33% of the estimated eligible people from age-appropriate groups have taken Covid-19 vaccine in the district in 28 days, before the second dose starts. Divisional commissioner Sanjeev Kumar has directed officials to ensure inoculation of all senior citizens and comorbid by end of April. The government had rolled out vaccine for 60+ and 45+ with specified comorbidities from March 1. Second dose is to kick-off after 28 days from first dose.

March 28 was the worst day so far during the current second wave like surge as 88 deaths due to Covid-19 were reported from 11 districts of Vidarbha. Barring Gadchiroli and Gondia, all districts in Vidarbha reported deaths. Not only deaths, but also cases are increasing, raising concern for the region. There were 7,452 new cases reported on Sunday — 7,000+ for the third consecutive day. Only relieving factor was 5,985 recoveries reported during the day.

Thane has reported 3,777 new cases of coronavirus, raising the infection count in the Maharashtra district to 3,09,561,an official said on Monday. These new cases were reported on Sunday, he said. The virus also claimed the lives of 12 more people, taking the death toll in the district to 6,444. The Covid-19 mortality rate in the district is 2.08 per cent, he said. So far, 2,75,635 patients have recuperated from the infection in the district, which reflects a recovery rate of 89.04 per cent. There are 27,482 active Covid-19 cases in Thane at present, the official said.

The district registered 25,740 Covid-19 positive cases in the fourth week of March, making it the highest weekly count in the year-long pandemic. This weekly figure is higher than the monthly figure over entire last one year, except for September, peak of the first wave. There were 58 deaths in the district on Sunday, which too was the highest in a day in the second wave, and probably highest among all districts in the country for second consecutive day.

Maharashtra is fit for imposing a fresh lockdown in its containment zones with the Covid-19 positivity rate, total confirmed cases per 100 tests, doubling almost every fortnight since January 26. It has gone up to 21.4% (March 14-27), well past its peak of July last year. Read more

Alarmed at Maharashtra recording its highest single-day tally of 40,414 new Covid-19 cases on Sunday, CM Uddhav Thackeray went into a huddle with the state task force and asked chief secretary Sitaram Kunte to immediately draw up a strategy for the “last resort” of a lockdown. “The government was trying hard to keep the economy afloat amid the pandemic. However, several factors are not being considered seriously,” Thackeray said at the meeting, which was also attended by public health minister Rajesh Tope and the chief secretary. Read more

The Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC) is waiting for the approval of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) for the proposed RT-PCR laboratory at the new Bytco hospital in the city. NMC has already installed all the machinery and equipment required for the RT-PCR tests. The RT-PCR lab is ready to operate. "We have already conducted trials of RT-PCR tests and sent reports to the ICMR couple of days ago. We have applied to the ICMR for its approval to start RT-PCR tests there," said Bapusaheb Nagargoje, the medical superintendent of NMC.

The Covid-19 positivity rate in Nashik city has stabilised between 25% and 28% in the last 10 days., which had increased to 44% by March 15. There has been a drop in the positivity rate during the last few days. "Earlier, we would conduct Covid tests of people with symptoms only and the number of daily tests per day was also comparatively low. But now the number of tests in both civic and private hospitals has increased in the last two to three weeks," said Bapusaheb Nagargoje, the medical superintendent of NMC.