Mumbai reports 3,779 fresh Covid-19 cases, Maharashtra sees over 30,000 on Sunday

The fresh spike came just three days after the state recorded its highest rise in a single day

A health worker takes a nasal sample from a woman for COVID-19 test, at Goregaon Municipal Maternity Home in Mumbai on Saturday.: (PTI Photo)

TT Bureau And Agencies   |   Mumbai   |   21.03.21 :  Maharashtra on Sunday reported 30,535 fresh COVID-19 cases, the highest rise in a single day, the state health department said. Mumbai reported 3,779 fresh COVID-19 cases in the day – the highest single-day spike since the pandemic began in December 2019 and the second consecutive day with over 3,000 new cases – while ten patients succumbed to the viral infection.

With this, the state's overall tally of the infections mounted to 24,79,682 while 99 fatalities pushed the toll to 53,399, it said.

The fresh spike in cases came just three days after Maharashtra recorded its highest rise in a single day at 25,833. The previous highest spike was 24,896 in September 2020.

A statement from the Health department said 11,314 patients were discharged during the day, taking the overall count of recoveries in Maharashtra to 22,14,867.

The overall growth in new Covid cases in the city (for the week ending Saturday) has risen to 0.63 per cent and the case fatality rate to 2.15 per cent, according to data from the government.

Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Karnataka, Gujarat and Haryana are displaying an upward trajectory in daily new cases, according to the Union Health Ministry.

According to experts, the biggest reason for the surge in cases is that people feel the pandemic is over and they are not following COVID-appropriate behaviour.

"There are multiple reasons for the surge, but the main reason is that there is change in people's attitude and they feel coronavirus is over. People should still restrict non-essential travel for some more time," AIIMS Director Randeep Guleria said.

Dr V K Paul, NITI Aayog member (Health) said to remain free of this virus, it is very important that COVID-appropriate behaviour, containment strategy, readiness from the health infrastructure point of view as well as vaccination has to be brought in to fight the pandemic.

He advised that in districts where COVID-19 cases are seemingly on the rise, vaccination of eligible individuals should be intensified and prioritised.

States and UTs showing an upsurge in daily new cases and with a high caseload of active cases have been advised by the Centre to improve testing in districts reporting reduction in testing and increase the overall share of RT-PCR tests (more than 70 pc), especially in districts dependent on high levels of antigen testing in line with the Test Track and Treat' strategy of the government.

They have also been advised to carry out an average close contact tracing of minimum of 20 persons per positive case (in the first 72 hours) along with isolation and early treatment of the serious cases as per clinical protocol.

They have been asked to limit the gathering in public places along with promoting COVID-appropriate behaviour through communication and enforcement and accelerate vaccination for priority population groups in districts reporting higher cases.

Accelerating the pace of vaccination has also been stressed upon, officials stated.