Maharashtra’s daily Covid cases drop; experts warn of potential spike

Even as the past 10 days have witnessed a drop in the daily caseload of the Covid-19 cases in the state, experts have cautioned against a potential spurt in cases in the next two weeks because of the crowding during the Ganesh festival which ended on September 20.

On Tuesday, the state reported 3,131 new infections and 70 deaths, taking the case tally to 6,527,629 and the toll to 138,616. Mumbai reported 357 new cases and one death, while Ahmednagar in western Maharashtra reported the highest, 605, cases.

The state’s daily caseload of Covid-19 cases has dropped to an average of 333 in the past ten days (33,319 cases during September 11-20) against the average of 414 during September 1-10 (41,369 cases). The number of deaths in ten days from September 11 to 20 dropped to 485 against 748 in the first 10 days of the month. In Mumbai too, the daily caseload average in the past 10 days (Sept 11-20) dropped slightly to 418 from 434 in the first 10 days of the month. The deaths reported in the city in past 10 days were, however, high at 47 against 34 between September 1 and 10.

The number of average daily tests, however, has dropped to 146,177 during September 11-20 from the daily average of 172,574 tests from September 1 to 10. The drop in the testing in the past ten days is also attributed to holidays leading to the non-availability of the facilities during Ganpati festival.

Maharashtra has 272,098 people in home quarantine and 1,704 in institutional quarantine.