From 69 to 752 in over a month, Pune sees tenfold rise in Covid cases

The Omicron subvariant XBB.1.16, responsible for the surge according to health officials, is infectious but has so far 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 the Noble Hospital, said that most cases were being treated as outpatient cases. “So far at least in our hospital, we have not seen very many admissions,” Dr Sale said. An analysis of 627 cases of the XBB.1.16 subvariant in the state indicates that more than half are in Pune (351) and the remaining scattered across 13 districts.

54 Covid deaths since January

Since January, Maharashtra has registered 54 deaths due to Covid, of which 29 were male and 25 female. An age-wise analysis of the deaths confirms that senior citizens are at the most risk as 38 people who succumbed to the infection were more than 60 years old. There were nine people in the 41-60 age group who died of Covid while six were from the 21-40 age group. One death was registered in the 11-20 age group.

Authorities have observed a steep rise in cases across the state. There were 5,704 cases of coronavirus on April 13 as against 198 registered on March 1. There are 11 districts whose Covid positivity rate in the week ending April 12 was more than the state average of 7.51 per cent. These include Mumbai, Pune, Thane, Nagpur, Sangli, Raigad and Satara.

Officials said they had increased the number of tests. An average of last week shows 84 tests per million were conducted in the state. Thane, Mumbai and Nagpur have stepped up testing and conducted an average of 382 tests per million, 128 tests per million and 102 tests per million, respectively, in the last week. Pune is reported to be conducting 80 tests per million.