Coronavirus outbreak: While mortality rate drops, Pune saw 29 per cent of total deaths in past 2 weeks

According to PMC records, the mortality rate of Covid-19 has dropped to 3.32 per cent, which is slightly higher than the national rate but lower than the state rate. The number of deaths has increased along with the surge in the number of patients.

In the last two weeks, the PMC registered 205 deaths – 103 from June 22 to 28 and 102 from June 29 to July 5. They account for 28.67 per cent of the total 715 deaths so far. The city had 340 critical patients, including 70 on ventilators, as on July 5.

The number of positive patients registered in the last two weeks is at least 39 per cent of the total number of patients. From June 22 till July 5, the PMC registered 8,384 of the total 21,520 patients so far.

As many as 1,32,816 suspected cases were tested for Covid-19 since the beginning of the outbreak. Of these, 45,637 – 34 per cent of the total – were tested in the last two weeks alone.

The doubling rate of active cases, which had risen to 22 days during the lockdown, has dropped to 16 days.

By increasing its testing capacity, the PMC is now conducting 29,988 tests per million population, which is higher than the state, country and Mumbai, which is the worst affected city in the country. According to civic data, Mumbai conducts 24,123 tests per million population.

The PMC has also started conducting rapid antigen tests in a few areas in the city to detect patients in congested areas.

The PMC has also decided to set up 800-bed facilities at Agriculture College and COEP in Shivajinagar. “It was true that there would be a need for more oxygen beds in the coming days. The PMC is ready to arrange for portable oxygen supplying machines at the Covid Care Center but there is a need of expertise to handle it,” said Municipal Commissioner Shekhar Gaikwad.