Maha: Covid cases scale new record; Omicron infections, fatalities increase

Mumbai, Jan 21 (IANS) Maharashtra Covid-19 cases scaled a new high above 48,000 mark and Omicron infections also increased while deaths continued to remain in double-digits, health officials said here on Friday.After the previous record high of 46,723 (January 12), the number of daily Covid infectees shot above the 48K level today, up from 46,197 on Thursday to 48,270 on Friday.The fatalities also increased from 37 a day earlier to 52 on Friday, and the mortality rate fell from 1.92 percent to 1.91 per cent.After notching a peak of 238 Omicron cases (January 14) the state infections of the variant went up, from 125 a day earlier to 144 on Friday.The government is continuing the intensive surveillance of passengers arriving at the three international airports -- Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur -- since December 1.A total of 304,746 travellers have landed here, including 47,701 from the "high risk" countries from where 574 have tested positive and another 666 from other countries, with all their reports sent for genomic sequencing to confirm if they are afflicted by Omicron.Another stupendous 5,674 positive samples from field surveys conducted since November 1 have been sent for genomic sequencing with the results of 74 are awaited, the officials said.Omicron has spread extensively across several districts in the state, and out of the 2,343 cases till date, 1,171 have recovered.Pune district remains at the top with 1,169 cases of the variant, 688 in Mumbai, 134 in Thane, 116 in Nagpur, 59 in Sangli, 25 in Amravati, 20 each in Raigad and Aurangabad, 19 in Kolhapur, 15 in Satara, 11 each in Osmanabad and Akola, 7 in Palghar, 6 in Buldhana, 4 each in Nashik and Ahmednagar, 3 each in Nanded, Latur, Jalna, Parbhani and Gondiya, 2 each in Gadchiroli, Nandurbar and Jalgaon, and 1 each in Bhandara, Wardha and Beed, besides one from another state.Of the 48,270 new Covid-19 cases on Friday, Mumbai Metropolitan Region showed a decline from 12,054 a day earlier to 10,493 infections, while Mumbai city also fell from 5,708 to 5,008 fresh cases.The next is Pune Circle's 18,785 infectees, Nagpur Circle 6,506, Nashik Circle 5,181, Latur 2,169, Kolhapur Circle 1,951, Aurangabad Circle 1,743 and Akola Circle's 1,442.The number of people sent to home quarantine declined sharply -- dropping from 24,21,501 on Thursday to 23,87,593 now, and another 3,357 have been shunted to institutional quarantine.Mumbai, Pune, Thane, Raigad and Palghar remain at the top with the highest number of aactive cases' currently in the state, with the afflictions shooting up from 258,569 a day before to 264,388 on Friday, and the recovery rate again dropping 94.52 per cent to 94.47 per cent.The state's cumulative figures of Covid-19 since the start of the pandemic in March 2020 now stands at 74,20,027 cases and 142,023 deaths, while a total of 70,09,823 patients have fully recovered till Friday.
--IANS qn/pgh

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