In what comes as a silver lining during the pandemic, the state has recorded a 48.45 per cent drop in the number of active Covid cases in the last 28 days.
According to the statistics, there were 36,371 active cases until October 1, which dropped further to 18,748 till October 28. State officials have attributed this drop to a number of factors like the implementation of restrictions and the ‘Breaking the Chain’ mission. These, officials said, have played a vital role in bringing down the number of cases. Moreover, they were focusing on critical patients, increasing the number of testing which helped them to curb the daily cases and deaths.
Dr Pradeep Awate, state surveillance officer, said that in the last few days, more patients have recovered. Many people are recovering within 7-10 days, following which the active cases are reducing.
“The decision of lockdown in the state was taken at the right time; else the situation would have been different. We have taken several efforts to curb cases from rising, which includes increasing Covid testing, contact tracing and treatment. We will continue to follow this. Earlier, there were more than 60,000 cases, but now the number of newly infected people is between 1,500 to 2,500, which is a good sign,” he said.
Mumbai has the most active cases at 4,944, followed by Pune and Thane with 3,929 and 3,005 patients respectively. The fourth and fifth positions are occupied by Ahmednagar (2,048) and Raigad (659) respectively.
The number of active cases during the peak of the second wave earlier this year had reached 6,00,000. For months till Tuesday, Pune was leading in the number of active cases, followed by Thane. The third position had been alternatively held by Mumbai, followed by Ahmednagar and Satara in recent months. However, on Wednesday, Mumbai overtook Pune in terms of active cases.
Meanwhile, a senior official from the state health department said that though they have yielded good results in controlling the number of active cases in the state, they will not compromise on the Covid care facilities and safety measures.
“We will maintain the same level of preparedness as before. The same level of oxygen supply, bed capacity, medicines and medical staff will be made available. The state needs to be prepared for any type of surge in cases in the future.
Moreover, the daily cases have also reduced as compared to the cases reported in the last four months,” he said.
The drop in active cases has been reported when the state is predicting another wave in July. “We have been augmenting our health infrastructure to be prepared to take up the additional burden of cases in case of a spike. The current dip in active cases have helped ease the burden on the health machinery,” the official said.
