As Covid-19 vaccines have brought hope of reduced cases, the infection seems to be on the rise in Maharashtra, which had already been recording highest number of cases in India. On Sunday, the western state reported more than 4,000 Covid cases after a span of 39 days, while Mumbai reported over 600 cases after over a month.
According to a Times of India report, owing to the surge, Mumbai’s doubling time that was nearing 600 days has now dropped to 479 days. Maharashtra on Sunday reported 4,092 new cases taking the overall caseload to 20,64,278. The city registered 645 cases, pushing the city’s total to 3,14,076.
In the wake of the surge, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has started deploying mobile COVID-19 testing vans in some pockets of Dharavi fearing a possible resurgence in infections. G North ward, which comprises Dharavi, Dadar, and Mahim, has recorded a weekly growth rate of 0.12 percent.
The TOI report quoted officials as saying that some high-risk contacts were avoiding testing as they feared that the mandatory 14-day quarantine will lead to a loss of income.
The state last recorded 4,000-plus cases (4,382) on January 6 and the city recorded (607) daily cases on January 14, exactly a month ago.
The report stated that the tate officials attributed the rise to higher testing over the weekend. However, while an average of 54,000 tests were carried out last week, it dropped to 48,000 during the weekend. The state Covid-19 task force as well as the central team that visited recently have recommended more testing in 14 districts with a higher positivity rate.
This is the fifth consecutive day cases have risen in both the state and city. Apart from Mumbai, Pune, Pimpri Chinchwad, Amravati, Nagpur and Nashik are mainly contributing to the daily addition in cases.
On Saturday, the state had reported 3,611 new coronavirus infections, taking the state’s caseload to 20,60,186. As many as 38 new fatalities were also reported, taking the death toll due to the pandemic to 51,489.
The Maharashtra government recently made RT-PCR test mandatory for travellers from Kerala, which has been reporting a high number of Covid-19 cases, to check the spread of the viral infection in the western state.
ALSO READ | Maharashtra Makes Negative Covid Report Mandatory for Those Travelling from Kerala
The test has to be done 72 hours before the commencement of travel, an official said. Similar tests have been already made mandatory for travellers from Delhi, Goa, Gujarat and Rajasthan since November last year.
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