COVID-19 UPDATES

Pune and Mumbai account for nearly half the Covid infections in Maharashtra and, along with Thane, are among the top three districts where the spike in coronavirus cases is being actively observed. Pune has seen a more-than-tenfold jump in cases, as per the health department.

Pune has seen a rise from 69 cases registered on March 1 to 752 on April 13, while Mumbai reported 47 cases on March 1 and saw a huge jump with 1,635 active infections being registered on April 13. In Thane, during the same period, the cases spiked from 26 to 1,040.

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 in March

In the month of March, 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.