Maharashtra records most fatalities in a month since March

Although the number of deaths has climbed, public health officials say the trend isn’t concerning as the case fatality rate remains as low as 0.06 per cent.

“Most of the deceased patients were elderly and had several underlying health issues like hypertension, diabetes, cardiac and kidney ailments, among others. Due to these health issues, their health condition deteriorates faster,” said Dr Mangala Gomare, executive health officer, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).

Though recent reports indicate the presence of new Omicron variants in a few cities across the country, they are unlikely to become ‘variants of concern’, say doctors.

Anticipating further spread of the virus, as seen in the last three pandemic waves, the public health department is making logistic arrangements to handle increased flow of patients. But as the severity of the infection is mild, most patients are recovering in home quarantine.

“The new variants of Omicron — BA.4 and BA.5 — are causing the spike in cases. It is expected that it will spread further but that’s the nature of a virus. But our focus should be on the hospitalisation and death rates, which are still under control,” said Dr Pradip Awate, state surveillance officer.