Pune Covid-19: Officials urge citizens to avoid weekend picnics, celebrations in large groups to ensure the declining trend continues and economic activities are further opened up.
Although there has been a steady decline in coronavirus infections in the last few weeks, Pune district continues to be among the 10 districts whose weekly Covid positivity rate at 14.23 per cent is higher than the state average of 8.47 per cent. The data from a new report of the state health department also shows the state has recorded a decline in the weekly case growth, and rate of recovery is high across Maharashtra.
State surveillance officer Dr Pradeep Awate told The Indian Express it is likely that by the end of June there would be a gradual easing of restrictions. He said the epidemic curve of each district is different, and, therefore, some had cases earlier in the year like Amravati and Akola, while others in western Maharashtra reported a surge later.
The data shows the cumulative active Covid cases in the state (2.3 lakh on June 1) have registered a drop of 24 per cent from the three lakh infections in September last year. According to a state health department report till June 1, the weekly Covid positivity rate in Maharashtra was 8.47 per cent. In the week May 5-11, the weekly Covid positivity rate in the state was 22.57 per cent, which has now come down to 8.47 per cent in the week May 26 to June 1.
There are 13 districts whose weekly Covid positivity rate is higher than the state average. These include Raigad (18.59 per cent), Ratnagiri (17.32 per cent), Satara (16.73 per cent), Sangli (16.10 per cent), Kolhapur (16.04 per cent), Pune (14.23 per cent), Buldhana (13.96 per cent), Sindhudurg (13.19 per cent), and Beed (9.06 per cent).
According to the state report, till June 1, there were a total of 30,092 active patients with Covid in Pune followed by 20,777 in Satara, 20,147 in Mumbai, 18,590 in Kolhapur and 18,339 in Thane. Of the total of 2.30 lakh persons infected with the disease in the state, at present, 44,036 are critical of which 15,854 are in intensive care units.
In a positive development, there are nine districts whose weekly Covid positivity rate is less than five per cent and these include Nagpur, Yavatmal, Nandurbar, Chandrapur, Gondia, Dhule, Jalna, Nanded and Jalgaon.
Dr Awate said that stepping out for essential works is necessary as there is a need to step up socio-economic activities. “However, it is important to observe Covid-appropriate behaviour and observe restrictions,” he added.
“People can catch the virus, and hence, it is both the responsibility of the public and state health department to bring down the positivity rate to less than 5 per cent in each district,” Dr Awate urged. He also appealed to citizens to avoid weekend picnics or celebrations in large groups.
