The state public health department has estimated that active Covid-19 cases in Maharashtra will soon cross 3 lakh and there will be a sharp rise in daily deaths. The health department’s projection comes on a day when Covid-19 positive cases crossed the 35,000-mark for the first time at 35,952 with 111 deaths and 2.07% fatality rate and 87.78% recovery rate. As on date, there were 2,62,685 active cases while 26,00,833 progressive cases in the state.
The health department official told the Free Press Journal, “If the daily cases will be of the order of 25,000 to 35,000, active cases will cross 3 lakh and it may even surge further. Therefore, the government has directed the district collectors to increase tracing, tracking, testing, and vaccination.’’
The state cabinet on Wednesday had expressed serious concern over the sharp rise in coronavirus cases especially in 13 of the total 36 districts. The state is at the beginning of a second wave and it alone accounts for 61.8%.
In Nanded, there is a record 385% change in Covid-19 cases, followed by Nandurbar 224%, Beed 219%, Dhule 169%, Nashik 157%, Jalgaon 147%, Bhandara 140%, Nagpur 122%, Chandrapur 95%, Ahmednagar 72%, Buldhana 65%, Aurangabad 58% and Akola 20%.
According to the officer, the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Consortium on Genomics (INSACOG) analysis of samples has revealed that compared to December 2020, there has been an increase in the fraction of samples with the E484Q and L452R mutations in Maharashtra. Such mutations confer immune escape and increased infectivity.
These mutations have been found in about 15-20% of samples and do not match any previously cataloged VOCs. These have been categorized as VOCs but require the same epidemiological and public health response of “increased testing, comprehensive tracking of close contacts, prompt isolation of positive cases & contacts as well as treatment as per National Treatment Protocol.
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