Centre writes to Maharashtra amid rise in caseload; surge in testing the reason, say officials

It was also highlighted that Mumbai has been the major contributor in the new cases. “It is important to note that Mumbai district is reporting the quantum of weekly new cases in the state with 1,403 new cases reported in the week ending December 9,” reads the letter.

In the same time period, Mumbai recorded 8.4% rise in weekly caseload as the cases surged from 1,294 to 1,403.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) reasoned that as the daily testing has been increased to 45,000 due to rising cases of Omicron, the number of daily cases has increased.

“With a surge in testing, the caseload also increased. But the positivity rate of the city is still low which stands at 0.5%. So, until this rate increases, we don’t have anything to worry about,” said Suresh Kakani, additional commissioner, BMC.

The state reported 22,348 new cases and 781 deaths in the 30 days preceding December 10. The state contributed to 7.8% of country’s monthly new cases and 6.1% of country’s monthly new deaths during the same period.

In the letter, Ahuja also highlighted a 700% rise in caseload in Gadchiroli where cases increased from 1 to 8 during same time. A similar surge has been reported in other districts like Bhandara (400%), Hingoli (250%), Wardha (200%), Parbhani (266%) among others.

However, the state health officers voiced disapproval over the analysis. “These districts have recorded minor rises in cases like 3-20 in 7 days which can’t be implicated as a 200-700% rise in caseload. Other than doing regular testing, we are also testing international fliers which have also contributed in pushing up the weekly new caseload,” said an officer.

The Centre also took a dig at the state as the five districts—Nandurbar, Aurangabad, Ahmednagar, Nashik and Jalgaon have recorded a drop in weekly testing.  The weekly testing in Nandurbar plunged by 35.61% in the same period, the highest drop recorded in the state. This is followed by Aurangabad with 7.46%, Ahmednagar with 6.93%, Nashik with 6.83% and Jalgaon with 0.78% drops in testing between November 26 to December 2 and December 3 to 9.

“It is also important to note that districts Buldhana (88), Nandurbar (121) and Yavatmal (130) are conducting average tests per million per day below the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendation of 140, which is a cause of concern,” reads the letter.

The district health officers reasoned that due to the unprecedented rain last week, the testing suffered a setback as the public couldn’t travel to vaccination centres.  Also, some districts like Nandurbar with one active Covid-19 case as recorded on December 15, the number of close contacts and suspected patients are few which limits their daily testing.

“On Tuesday, we found two index Covid-19 patients and tested 25 of their close contacts. We are also testing the suspected patients and patients visiting fever clinics with symptoms. We are trying to meet the target of daily testing but due to a few active cases, we are lagging behind,” said Dr Mahendra Chavan, district health officer, Nandurbar.

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