MUMBAI: Maharashtra on Thursday added 1,522 past deaths—the highest in a single day during the almost month-long data reconciliation exercise—to the state’s total toll, taking it to 1,03,748.
Fatalities recorded in the state on Thursday were 393, second-highest in June, while new Covid cases crept up above 12,000 (12,207) after three days.
Since the reconciliation process of adding up deaths that occurred over a week earlier or may have been missed in the daily tabulation exercise began on May 17, the state has added a total of 11,617 deaths. The figure is higher than the 10,645 deaths recorded as the total daily toll (deaths in the previous 24 hours or within a week of that date) in the last three weeks and accounts for over 11% of the state’s total Covid toll since the pandemic began.
Of these ‘old’ deaths, 8,404 were added in the first 10 days of June, and 5,410 were older-than-a-week deaths. “Although we have asked districts to update death data within 48 hours, it is not always possible due to manpower crunch or technical problems,” said Dr Pradeep Awate, who heads the epidemiology cell of the state public health department.
In Mumbai, the Covid graph dipped further with 655 fresh cases and 22 deaths registered on Thursday. The test positivity rate in the city was below 3% for the fourth consecutive day. A positivity rate less than 5% for two continuous weeks could lead to further relaxation of restrictions. The city’s case tally since March 2020 has climbed to 7.13 lakh and toll to 15,055.
On Thursday, the state cabinet took stock of Covid cases and the vaccination programme in the state. Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray and public health minister Rajesh Tope praised the state health system for giving out 2.5 crore doses, covering 2.1 crore with the first shot and 50.8 lakh with both the doses.
Of the over 12,000 cases in the state, most were reported from Kolhapur circle (3,731), Pune (2,595), Nashik (2,486) and the Mumbai Metropolitan region (2,058). In Kolhapur’s rural areas, 1,050 new cases were reported. Sangli (893), Satara (848), Nashik city (826), Nashik rural (667), Pune rural (747) and Ahmednagar (743) had more cases than Mumbai on Thursday.
The state update said Raigad registered 61 deaths on Thursday, but the district administration said only 24 deaths had occurred in the last 24 hours. Mira-Bhayandar (33) and Kolhapur (25) recorded more deaths than Mumbai. The state caseload stands at 58.8 lakh so far. As of Thursday, the active cases in the state are 1,60,693, including 18,157 in Mumbai.
