Maharashtra reports highest toll for a day (422); 49 deaths from Mumbai – Times of India

MUMBAI: A day after reporting a dip in cases and deaths, Maharashtra on Tuesday reported 422 Covid-19 deaths, the highest in a day so far since the outbreak of the pandemic. The highest deaths reported earlier were 413 on August 13. This is the second time in 163 days, since the first case was reported in the state, that the deaths have crossed the 400 mark. With this, the total toll in the state is now 20,687.

The state government attributed the jump to book-keeping and said that of the 422 deaths, 327 were from the last 48 hours, 67 were from last week and the remaining 28 from a period before that. The state also added 11,119 new Covid-19 cases, of which 8.3% or 931 were from Mumbai. The total cases in the state are now 6,15,477 and the tally in Mumbai is 1,30,410, having crossed the 1.30 lakh mark. Mumbai contributed 49 deaths on Tuesday, taking the total fatalities to 7,222.
Public health minister Rajesh Tope said that in the review meeting chaired by chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, municipal corporations that have a low contract tracing ratio and high death rate have been instructed to take additional steps. “Smaller districts like Parbhani and Nandurbar that were reporting a large number of cases as their contact tracing was very low have been asked to work on that,” Tope said. He said that the case doubling rate of the state was 30 days, while there were many cities like Mumbai which had a much higher doubling rate. He also said that certain districts may be seeing a peak in the next few days. “It is difficult to tell how big the peak will be in certain districts, so they have been asked to stay on alert. But places like Dharavi, Malegaon and Aurangabad are seeing a plateau now with cases remaining stagnant,” Tope said.
Civic authorities in Mumbai said the city’s doubling rate has improved to 89 days, just shy of three months. The average growth rate of cases too is consistent at .79%. “Mumbai has plateaued and a decline will be seen soon. The concern now is the death rate,” said a senior doctor. The city’s death rate at 5.54% is the highest in Maharashtra once again as districts like Jalgaon, Dhule and Solapur have all witnessed a decline in fatality rate. A state official said Mumbai’s testing numbers have not gone up significantly as compared to other districts. A state official, however, said there could be undercounting of deaths in the private sector, and hospitals have been asked to disclose all deaths.
Navi Mumbai added 333 cases and 4 deaths. Tope said private doctors doing Covid work will be provided the 50 lakh insurance cover provided there are documents from local authorities to support their work.