MUMBAI: Maharashtra’s death toll from Covid-19 surpassed one lakh on Sunday with an addition of 618 deaths to the cumulative number.
The state’s fatalities, accounting for 29% of confirmed coronavirus deaths in India, are over three times higher than the next state regarding this metric, Karnataka (31,580).
The state’s Covid toll for 2021 (50,609) has also exceeded last year’s 49,521.
May by far has been the deadliest since Covid reached the state about 15 months ago.
Of the 1,00,130 total deaths, more than a quarter (26,531) were reported last month.
The last 20,000 Covid deaths came up in a span of merely 23 days.
The biggest urban hubs of Maharashtra, Mumbai, Pune and Thane, have remained the highest contributors with 14,971, 13,348 and 8,257 deaths.
In the second wave though, several smaller districts saw as many as if not a higher number of deaths than the bigger cities.
In a silver lining, the state on Sunday recorded 12,557 new cases, the lowest in the last 89 days.
Daily cases in Mumbai too dropped to 786, hitting a 103-day low, taking the overall case tally to 7,10,643.
Maharashtra’s total caseload has reached 58.31 lakh.
The city recorded 20 deaths on Sunday, a 65-day low.
Active cases saw a further dip in the state, 1,85,527, including the city’s 18,041.
The CM, who held a virtual meeting with all district, civic and police administrations, cautioned authorities about the anticipated third wave and asked them to remain more alert since many districts have started to unlock.
Former KEM dean Dr Avinash Supe, who heads the Covid death audit committee, said that despite seeing double the incidence compared to the last wave, the mortality rate was lower this time.
“But there is no denying that with better logistics, infrastructure and training, we could have saved more lives.
A crucial lesson from the second wave would be to strengthen the primary and secondary health infrastructure to fight the future waves better,” he said.
Maharashtra had recorded 19.32l akh cases and 49,521 deaths last year, while this year, there have been nearly 39 lakh cases and 50,609 deaths.