MUMBAI: On the day when both Maharashtra and Mumbai reported a surge in daily detections of Covid-19 cases, the state cabinet held a discussion on the Delta-plus variant cases found in the state.
The ministers were of the opinion that the five-level unlock plan should be reviewed and if required, stricter restrictions should be brought back to keep the spread of the highly virulent and transmissible strain in check.
After a gap of one week, Maharashtra reported over 10,000 cases, while Mumbai reported a 30% jump in cases as compared to Tuesday (568).
On Wednesday, 10,066 cases were reported in the state and 864 in Mumbai, the highest in 19 days.
The city saw 23 deaths.
Wednesday’s case tally was the highest since June 4 (968) and the death toll highest in 12 days.
“The third wave in most countries has been fueled by the Delta-plus strain.
With 21 cases in the state it is a matter of concern.
We have requested the CM to hold a meeting with the task force to review the unlock plan and consider adding some restrictions to keep the spread in check,” said a minister, who attended the meeting.
Health minister Rajesh Tope said, “Daily cases in the state have been fluctuating between 8,000 and 10,000 for the last 10-12 days and are not reducing as fast as they should…we are trying to understand the reason for this slow decline.” The state’s total caseload rose to 59.9 lakh and the death toll touched 1,19,303.
As many as 345 unreported deaths were also added to the cumulative as part of the reconciliation exercise.
Similarly, the total cases in Mumbai touched 7.2 lakh and deaths 15,338.
BMC officials said the fluctuations are not alarming and could be the function of more tests (37,905) done in the last 24-hour period.
The state has tested over 2.4 lakh people in the last 24 hours taking the total tests conducted since the outbreak of the pandemic to 4 crore, nearly 30% of the 12-crore population of Maharashtra.
The BMC is setting up paediatric wards in its hospitals in preparation for the third wave.
In jumbo centres, BMC has decided to make separate enclosures for Covid-negative parents of Covid-positive children admitted there.
“The parents cannot stay with the infected child, but on compassionate grounds, we will ensure they are in the same facility,” said BMC additional municipal commissioner Suresh Kakani.