Maha adds 1 lakh Covid cases in 2 days, Pune tops in Omicron infections

Mumbai, Jan 14 (IANS) Maharashtra has added over one lakh new Covid-19 cases to the state tally which shot above 71 lakh on Friday with a stupendous 200-plus Omicron cases, with Pune overtaking Mumbai, health officials said here.

After recording record high of 46,723 on Wednesday, the number of new Covid infectees in the state figures dropped to 43,211 and the fatalities also fell from 36 to 19, and the mortality rate dipped from 2 per cent to 1.98 per cent.

After 207 Omicron cases on January 9, the state infections of the variant shot up to a new peak of 238, sparking fresh concerns among the health authorities.

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 277,114 travellers have landed here, including 42,062 from the "high risk" countries from where 523 have tested positive and 580 from other countries, with all their reports sent for genomic sequencing to confirm if they are afflicted by Omicron.

Besides, another 4,641 positive samples from field surveys conducted since November 1 have been sent for genomic sequencing with the results of 83 are awaited, the officials said.

Omicron has spread extensively across several districts in the state, and out of the 1,605 cases till date, 859 have recovered.

Mumbai was edged out by Pune as far as the total Omicron infections are concerned.

Now, Pune has 677 cases of the variant, followed by 629 in Mumbai, 79 in Thane, 59 in Sangli, 51 in Nagpur, 19 in Raigad, 18 in Kolhapur, 13 in Satara, 11 in Osmanabad, nine in Amravati, six each in Palghar, Akola, and Buldhana, three each in Nanded, Aurangabad, and Gondiya, two each in Ahmednagar, Gadchiroli, Latur, Nandurbar, Nashik, and Solapur, and one in Jalna.

Of the 43,211 new Covid-19 cases, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region alone accounted for 22,037 infections, while Mumbai city remained at a high, with 11,317 new cases.

The next is Pune circle's 11,421 infectees, Nashik circle's 3,182, Nagpur circle's 2,552, Kolhapur circle's 1,264, Latur circle's 1,227, Aurangabad circle's 913 and Akola circle's 615.

The number of people sent to home quarantine shot up hugely - from 17,95,631 on Thursday to 19,10,361 now, and another 9,286 have been shunted to institutional quarantine.

Mumbai, Pune, Thane, Raigad, and Palghar remain at the top with the highest number of active cases currently in the state, with the afflictions shooting up from 251,828 a day before to 261,658, with the recovery rate dropping from 94.39 per cent a day earlier to 94.28 per cent.

The cumulative figures of Covid-19 since the start of the pandemic in March 2020 now stands at 71,24,278 cases and 141,756 deaths, while a total of 67,17,125 patients have fully recovered till date.