Maharashtra reports decline in Covid cases for 3rd straight day, but fatalities high

MUMBAI: Reporting a decline in cases for the third consecutive day, Maharashtra added 26,133 new cases on Saturday, lowest in two months. With this, the state reported a daily positivity rate of 9.2%. However, the fatalities continued to be high as 682 deaths were added, taking the cumulative toll to 87,300. With Saturday’s addition, the state’s total caseload rose to 55.5 lakh.
For a week now, Mumbai has been registering under 1,500 cases a day (1,535 cases on May 16). On Saturday, the BMC update said 1,283 cases were detected despite the usual number of tests (29,264), while there were 52 deaths.
While Maharashtra’s positivity rate has dipped to 10%, the corresponding number in Mumbai was 4.3% -- a trend noticeable for the last three days. In KEM Hospital, Parel, there are 115 Covid patients who are critical. “But the daily new admissions have reduced to two or three,” said KEM Hospital dean Dr Hemant Deshmukh.
Even in private hospitals that the affluent classes who form the bulk of those affected by the second wave prefer, normal beds and ICU beds are easy to get now. “We have 25 to 27 patients in the ICU at the moment, and the pressure on availability of ICU beds has eased,” said Dr Rahul Pandit, who heads the ICU department in Fortis Hospital, Mulund, and is a member of the state government’s task force on Covid. BMC additional commissioner Suresh Kakani said BMC’s focus right now is on preparing infrastructure for the third wave.
There were many districts like Satara, Solapur, Ahmednagar, Sangli and Kolhapur that were adding nearly the same amount of cases as Mumbai and Pune. These districts continue to be a cause of concern.