The daily COVID-19 cases in Maharashtra have distended almost 5 times more on Friday to 10,216 after a drop to 1,948 on 1st February. The count of new cases was this high four-and-a-half months ago on 17th October 17 (i.e., 10,259 cases), as reported by Malathy Iyer.

In Mumbai, daily cases are around 1,000, as BMC has registered 1,174 cases on Friday, which is the third consecutive day of 1,000-plus cases. The death count remains moderate with 53 deaths in the state and three deaths reported in Mumbai on Friday.

Dr Satish Pawar from the state health services said that cases are increasing in Maharashtra and few other states, however this is the returning nature of viral pandemics. Surges and dips in the cases must be expected for a few years to come. State officials have maintained so far that the increase in cases is not caused by a new coronavirus variant.

A senior state health official said that they expect COVID-19 cases to increase to daily by 5,000 cases, stating that it is doubtful whether it will cross the September 2020 high of 20,000 daily cases.

On Friday, the state COVID update showed that in Pune district (2,070 cases) and Nagpur city (1,974 cases), new cases were increasing steadily and getting close to the Mumbai 2,135 cases. In the Akola city, the present surge in cases was initially noticed in Amravati and Yavatmal in the 2nd half of February, almost 1,472 cases were detected. On 26th February, 1,601 cases were registered from the Akola city.

It is almost a year into the COVID pandemic in the state, the total count stands at 21.9 lakh and 52,293 deaths. In Mumbai, experts are saying that the COVID surge has steadied at 1,000 cases daily. The total count in the city is 3.3 lakh cases and 11,495 deaths till now.

The BMC health officials have instructed all the hospitals to revive their bed strength as a preventive measure as the number of active cases are rising. A civic doctor said that many cases are asymptomatic and need only home isolation.

In Navi Mumbai, 122 new cases were detected on Friday, taking the total count to 56,079 cases. Two deaths were reported, taking the count to 1,126. Panvel municipal corporation area have reported 84 cases, taking the total count to 30,440 cases. On Friday, no death was reported and the count remained at 648.

Source: ET Healthworld