Maharashtra has been witnessing significantly reduced coronavirus cases, with its daily Covid-19 count on Monday being 4,145 infections and just 100 deaths. However, the recent floods, which battered the western parts of the state, has been a setback to the state’s management of the pandemic. This is because flood relief and rescue operations took precedence over Covid-19 tests and treatment in rain-affected districts, some of which also have high coronavirus caseload — thereby leading to slow recovery in those districts.
State Health Minister Rajesh Tope said, “The Covid-19 situation is such that the numbers are neither increasing or reducing drastically. In some districts, we have not given relaxation as the positivity rate there is higher than the state average. I would like to request citizens there to follow protocol and get vaccinated.”
Maharashtra’s active coronavirus cases came down from 66,123 on August 10 to 62,452 on August 16, indicating a steady recovery, but the fact that only 6 districts, including Pune, Sangli and Kolhapur, are contributing to as much as 67 per cent of the active caseload is quite telling about the stubbornness of the virus in these districts.
While that might seem like a matter of concern, Dr Ashok Pandit from the Covid Task Force cites the official data to explain the real picture.
“When you deep dive into the data you will know, rest of the districts peaked in March during the second wave…Kolhapur and Sangli peaked almost a month-and-a-half later and that’s why we are seeing this surge. I’m positive, soon it will be at par with other districts.”
Mumbai Seeing Larger Crowd on Streets, Experts Sound Caution
Meanwhile, the state government is providing relaxations in Covid curbs in districts where the virus has been contained. In Mumbai, for instance, malls, shops, beaches, squares, parks and grounds will now be open till 10pm.
However, crowds are picking up on the streets, leading to experts sounding caution. “We cannot say things are fine and say that we can now be complacent. I think over the next 12 months, no matter what the situation is, we need to keep our vigil very high.”
“In Mumbai, … even with the restriction, the movement of the people is very high, so we need to keep testing. I’m happy that BMC is still testing more even when fresh cases are low. They are testing 30,000 people, which means contact-tracking and tracing is happening. Deaths are reducing, but we don’t want a single person to die and for that, a lot of work has gone into it already. It’s going to be a multi-prong approach,” said Dr Pandit.
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