Pune and Mumbai account for nearly half the cases of Covid-19 infection in Maharashtra and along with Thane, are among the top three districts where the spike in cases of coronavirus is being actively observed. There has been a more than 10-fold jump in cases in Pune district as per data from the state health department. Pune has seen a rise from 69 cases registered on March 1 to 752 on April 13, while Mumbai reported 47 cases on March 1 and then saw a huge jump with 1,635 active infections being registered on April 13. In Thane, during the same period, the cases spiked from 26 to 1,040. The Omicron sub-variant XBB.1.16 is responsible for the surge, said health officials. It is infectious but so far has not led to severe complications. Officials have advised wearing masks, especially for senior citizens and avoiding public gatherings. Dr H K Sale, executive director at Noble Hospital, said that most of the cases are being treated as OPD cases. “So far, at least in our hospital we have not seen very many admissions,” Dr Sale said. An analysis of 627 cases of XBB.1.16 sub-variant in the state indicates that more than half are in Pune (351) and the remaining are scattered across 13 districts. 54 deaths in state since Jan Maharashtra has registered 54 deaths due to Covid since January, of which 29 are male and 25 female. The age-wise analysis of deaths confirms that senior citizens are at the highest risk as 38 persons who succumbed to the infection were more than 60 years old. There were nine persons in the age group 41-60 who died of Covid infection while six were from the age group 21-40. One death was registered in the age group of 11-20. Authorities have observed a steep rise in cases across Maharashtra. There are a total of 5,704 cases of coronavirus across Maharashtra on April 13 as against 198 registered on March 1. Presently, there are 11 districts whose Covid positivity rate in the week ending April 12 is more than the state average of 7.51 percent. These include Mumbai, Pune, Thane, Nagpur, Sangli, Raigad, and Satara among others. “We have increased the number of tests,” said an official. An average of last week shows 84 tests per million were conducted in the state. Thane, Mumbai, Nagpur, and others have stepped up testing strategies and have in the last week conducted an average of 382 tests per million, 128 tests per million, and 102 tests per million. Pune is reported to be conducting 80 tests per million as per the state data.
