Covid cases down in Maharashtra; Mumbai daily toll dips to 8 – Times of India

MUMBAI: Covid-19 cases and deaths in the state and city dropped on Saturday, the day the total toll in Maharashtra went past the grim milestone of 50,000. The state added 3,581 fresh cases and 57 fatalities, taking its total cases to 19,65,556 and fatalities to 50,027. The Covid-19 graph in Mumbai continued to dip, with only 596 cases registered in the city on Saturday. Deaths dipped to single digits, with eight deaths.
The tally and toll in Mumbai have now reached 2.98 lakh and 11,181 respectively. “With the decline in Covid cases and deaths, we are now focusing on the vaccination drive,” said BMC additional commissioner Suresh Kakani. The BMC is in a state of preparedness to start the vaccination drive as soon as the stocks are transported to the city, he added.

The Union health ministry announced on Saturday that the vaccination drive for healthcare workers would begin on January 16. Senior civic officials said that the state will now announce a date from when vaccination drive will start in the state once there is a clear indication of when the vaccine stocks will arrive. “After the dry run, all districts have been asked to rectify the small glitches experienced during the mock drill. Barring some technical problems or erratic internet connections, there were no problems,” said an official.
According to the BMC’s dashboard, of the 7,927 Covid patients in the city on Friday, 397 were critical and the majority – 4,898 — were asymptomatic. Of the 1,797 ICU beds marked for Covid-19 patients in the city, 55% were vacant. “The average age of patients in ICU these days is 75 years, with an odd younger patient,” said Dr Rahul Pandit, who heads the intensive care department at Fortis Hospital, Mulund, and is a member of the state’s task force.
The doubling rate, which used to be less than 10 days in May, has now increased to 364 days. Ward T (Mulund) has the shortest doubling time of 239, while F South (Parel) has the best doubling rate at 674 days. The recovery rate in Mumbai is 93%.
Thane city saw 129 new patients and three deaths on Saturday, taking the tally there to 56,519 and toll to 1,264. The recovery rate in Thane is 96%. Navi Mumbai registered 76 fresh cases and one death, taking the tally there to 51,668 and toll to 1,068. Of these, 96% of patients have recovered. PCMC areas reported 37 fresh cases on Saturday, taking its total case tally to 27,963. With one death reported, the toll there reached 611.