State toll rises, Covid cases in Mumbai make up 27% of Maharashtra tally

MUMBAI: Daily Covid cases in Mumbai (427) on Thursday accounted for as much as 27% of the state’s tally of 1,573 cases. The toll rose to five on Thursday from the four it had held steady for the last couple of days.
Maharashtra has been recording below 2,000 cases for the last one week. It reported 39 deaths on Thursday, a day after listing 21 deaths, the lowest in 8 months. With this, the total caseload of the state rose to 65.98 lakh and deaths stood at 1,39,925.
Despite the slight rise in cases, BMC officials said the “Covid curve” in Mumbai is almost static and there appears to be no “cluster of cases” in any of the 24 wards. Only five wards have a weekly infection rate that is higher than the city’s average of 0.05%.
At KEM Hospital, Parel, 16 severe patients are admitted at the moment, said dean Dr Hemant Deshmukh. The BKC jumbo centre that can accommodate over a thousand patients had only 38 on Thursday, said dean Dr Rajesh Dere.
According to BMC data released on Thursday, 11 contacts per Covid-positive patient are being tested in October as against 12 and 14 in September and August, respectively.
Health minister Rajesh Tope said the second wave is coming to an end in the state and they are expecting a spike in cases after Diwali. “To reduce the spike and it’s severity, we are pushing for vaccination,” said Tope. But vaccine nubers are not encouraging too. “We are trying to reach out to communities that are hesitant to get vaccinated,” said Tope.