Is Maharashtra Heading Towards Another Surge? Sees Close To 10,000 Daily COVID Cases
In the past 24 hours on Wednesday, Maharashtra reported 9,855 new COVID-19 cases, highest in the last more than four months, taking the tally of infections to 21,79,185. On October 17, the state had reported 10,259 cases, after which the graph had declined.
After a short respite that gave hopes that the worst of COVID-19 is over in Maharashtra, the worst-affected state in India is seeing what appears to be another spike in infections.
In the past 24 hours on Wednesday, Maharashtra reported 9,855 new COVID-19 cases, highest in the last more than four months, taking the tally of infections to 21,79,185.
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On October 17, the state had reported 10,259 cases, after which the graph had declined.
42 deaths on March 3
On Wednesday the state saw 42 COVID-19 deaths, taking the total so far to 52,280.
As many as 6,559 patients were discharged from hospitals since Tuesday evening, taking the number of recovered patients to 20,43,349.
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Maharashtra's recovery rate of COVID-19 cases is 93.77 per cent, while the fatality rate is 2.40 per cent, an official said.
6 states report steady rise
According to the Union Health ministry, Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Karnataka continue to report a surge in daily new COVID-19 cases, accounting for 85.51 per cent of fresh cases in India.
Maharashtra is followed by Kerala with 2,765 while Punjab reported 772 new cases. The total number of cases with UK, South Africa and Brazil variants of SARS-CoV-2 in the country as of date has reached 242, the ministry said.
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India's total COVID-19 active caseload has reached 1,73,413 comprising 1.55 per cent of India's total cases.
"Maharashtra, Gujarat, Punjab and Madhya Pradesh are showing a rise in active cases," the ministry said.
Recently, researchers had found two new mutations in coronavirus samples from Amravati and Yavatmal districts of eastern Maharashtra which can escape neutralizing antibodies, a senior official said.
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These new mutations were characterized by the virus' ability to escape neutralizing antibodies in the host person's body, said Dr Rajesh Karyekarte, head of the Department of Microbiology at the state-run B J Medical College in Pune.
Dr Subhash Salunke, technical adviser to the Maharashtra government on the COVID-19 outbreak, said a virus mutation found in Amaravati seemed to be more infectious.
However, according to the Health Ministry, the new strains are not behind the recent surge in cases across the country.
Bobins Abraham is the Assistant News Editor at Indiatimes. He has more than twelve years of experience in TV and digital journalism. An avid student of history and geopolitics, he is a conservationist and environmentalist at heart. He writes on environment, sustainability, human-animal conflict and more.
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