MUMBAI: The state crossed the 60 lakh mark in its Covid-19 case tally on Thursday, with only three countries (the US, India as a whole and Brazil) having a higher caseload since the pandemic began in early 2020.
France is the country closest to Maharashtra in terms of tally, with 57.6 lakh cases so far.
The daily cases and deaths due to the ongoing second wave continued to drop in the state and city.
The state added 9,844 fresh cases and 197 deaths on Thursday, taking the total deaths to 1,19,859; and 359 unreported deaths were added to the cumulative tally.
On Thursday, 773 cases were detected in Mumbai from 35,746 tests and the test positivity rate was 2.1%.
The city’s total case tally has now climbed to 7.2 lakh.
After a sudden spike in deaths on Wednesday (23), the city registered 10 deaths.
The total toll in Mumbai stands at 15,348.
“The slight daily fluctuations are most possibly due to crowding on streets after relaxation of restrictions.
The cases are generally between 500 and 900 in the city at present,” said BMC executive health officer Dr Mangala Gomare.
The daily number of tests has gone up in Mumbai due to testing at crowded places such as railway stations and markets.
BMC higher-ups had in April said they would target 45,000 tests daily in Mumbai.
As per a presentation made in the cabinet on Wednesday, the weekly growth rate of Covid-19 cases dropped to 0.15% and doubling rate has increased to 460 days from 190 days in May.
The case fatality rate has also dropped to 1.9% from the 2.1% in May.