Maharashtra adds over 5K new COVID-19 cases for 4th day in a row

The recovery rate marginally fell from 52.59 per cent to 52.37 per cent, while the mortality rate stood at 4.48 per cent

Mumbai: For the fourth day running, Maharashtras Covid-19 tally jumped sharply by 5,257 new cases on Monday, while the state's fatalities surpassed the 7,500-mark, health officials said.

The state's death toll shot up to 181 on Monday, down from the previous single-day high of 248 recorded on June 23.

Earlier on June 16, the state had reported the highest 1,409 fatalities after taking into account reconciliation of earlier deaths, which drastically escalated the toll.

With Monday's 181 fatalities, the state's death toll climbed from Sunday's 7,429 to 7,610, while the total number of cases zoomed to 169,883, both being the highest in the country.

1 death every 8 minutes

This comes to roughly one death recorded every 8 minutes and a staggering 219 new cases notched every hour in the state on Monday.

The recovery rate marginally fell from 52.59 per cent to 52.37 per cent, while the mortality rate stood at 4.48 per cent.

For most days in June, the state has been recording three-digit highs of deaths and since the past four days, 5K plus new patients, causing big worries to the health officials.

The health department said that of the total number of cases declared till date, 73,298 were active cases as on Monday, lower (favourable) vis-a-vis the number of patients cured, indicating a positive sign.

Mumbai Covid-19 deaths

Of the total 181 fatalities declared on Monday, Mumbai alone notched 92 deaths -- taking the city's death toll to 4,463, while the number of positive patients shot up by 1,226 to touch 76,765.

Besides Mumbai's 92 deaths, there were 26 deaths each in Thane and Pune, 12 in Aurangabad, 11 in Solapur, 8 in Jalgaon, 3 in Amravati, and 1 each in Nagpur, Osmanabad and Nashik.

On the positive side, a total of 2,385 fully cured patients returned home on Monday, taking the number of those discharged to 88,960 -- relatively higher than the 73,298 active cases at present.

Meanwhile, in a significant move to combat the pandemic, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Monday inaugurated the world's largest and India's first Project PLATINA -- a Plasma Therapy Trial Centre. It will provide free treatment to all critical patients at the 17 government hospitals and 4 BMC hospitals.

As many as 1.42 lakh patients received free treatment under the Mahatma Jyotiba Janarogya Yojana, including 1.22 lakhs for Covid-19 and the rest for serious ailments of heart, kidney etc., said Health Minister Rajesh Tope.

As hinted by Thackeray on Sunday, the state government on Monday extended the lockdown till July 31 and started its stringent implementation across the state, but also promised that there would be gradual easing of restrictions.

Maharashtra District wise Corona status

The MMR (Thane Division) remains a tricky issue as deaths and cases shoot up, with a whopping 3,593 new patients pushing up the number of positive cases to 122,325 on Monday. It has reported 5,530 Covid-19 fatalities so far.

Thane, with 36,002 cases and 871 fatalities, has emerged as the second worst-hit district in the state after Mumbai.

Pune district comes third with 21,303 patients and 740 deaths till now. But the Pune Division ranks second (after MMR) with 24,980 patients and fatalities reaching 1,040 on Monday.

The next major region of concern is Nashik Division with 521 fatalities and 9,040 positive cases, followed by Aurangabad Division with 258 deaths and 6,004 cases, and Akola Division with 126 fatalities and 2,654 cases.

Kolhapur Division has notched 51 deaths and 1,997 patients, Latur Division has 43 fatalities and 981 cases, while the Nagpur Division has recorded 18 deaths and 1,817 cases.

Only Kolhapur Division recorded zero fatalities on Monday, though there were new Covid-19 cases.

The number of people sent to home quarantine increased from Sunday's 570,475 to 574,093 on Monday, while those under institutional quarantine increased from 37,350 to 37,758 on Monday. Source: https://ummid.com/

Read More........ → July 01, 2020

Coronavirus: Dharavi's dramatic return from the brink

After the proactive measures by the BMC, the growth rate came down to 4.3 per cent in May and to 1.02 per cent in June

Mumbai: Marking a major success story, Mumbai's sore underbelly - Dharavi - has made a dramatic return from the brink in the ongoing war against coronavirus. As per the latest official data released on Sunday, Dharavi's doubling time of corona cases has become more than twice compared with the wider Mumbai city - indicating a major turnaround in the situation there. With a series of stringent measures for Covid-19 prevention, combat strategies and strict enforcement implemented, the results finally have begun to show in the hotspot. Mumbai Mayor elated: "The Dharavi 'tension' is off our heads now. We have worked really hard to bring it to this level and it has given excellent results with the local peoples' full support," an elated Mumbai Mayor Kishori Pednekar told IANS. She said that the multi-pronged strategy also involved isolation in large numbers to "break the chain" and the local population extended wholehearted cooperation in this. "I am confident that the situation in Dharavi will improve even further in July. This will give us time to concentrate on the eastern and western suburbs of Mumbai which are causing concern," Pednekar added. Dharavi, in south-central Mumbai, enjoys a dubious reputation of being Asia's largest slum pocket with a population of over 5 lakh crammed in a 2.25 square km area, making it the most congested place on earth. Mumbai Corona doubling rate: While the doubling rate of Covid-19 cases in Mumbai is 34 days, that in Dharavi is practically double at 78 days, according to the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and the Union Health Ministry. The first Covid-19 case and death from Dharavi was reported on April 1 - three weeks after the city's first case and two weeks after Maharashtra's first fatality in Mumbai (March 17). During April, Dharavi figures shot up dramatically to 491 cases at a growth rate of 12 per cent and a doubling period of 18 days. After the proactive measures by the BMC, the growth rate came down to 4.3 per cent in May and to 1.02 per cent in June. Similarly, the doubling time improved from 18 days in April to 43 days in May and now 78 days in June, spelling a huge relief for the civic and state health authorities. Doubling time of over 30 days is considered ideal, but Mumbai had a doubling period of 15 days around mid-May. Mumbai Corona deaths: While Mumbai has notched 65,329 cases and 3,561 deaths, in Dharavi, the latest data shows 2,170 cases with 79 deaths till date, including only nine so far this month. The challenges in Dharavi were enormous with average 8-10 people packed in tiny homes or hutments averaging to 10 feet by 10 feet, common toilets used by over 100 people, common water taps used by thousands daily, sheer narrow lanes where two people have to turn sideways to pass, and other crowding issues, said an official. "This posed severe limitations on luxuries like 'physical distancing' or 'home quarantine', since many homes also doubled as workplaces or mini-factories." 'Model 4 Ts' : Accordingly, the BMC adopted a model 4 Ts - Tracing, Tracking, Testing and Treating, proactive screening with over 47,500 people covered by medicos and private clinics in home-to-home screening, and setting up fever clinics for high-risk categories, etc. Another around 15,000 through mobile vans and around half a million were surveyed scrupulously by the civic health teams, with around 8,246 senior citizens were identified and separated from the others to arrest any infections, for a total of 5,48,270 surveyed and screened in Dharavi. Of these, as Pednekar said, the suspected cases were immediately shifted to well-organised Covid Care Centres or Quarantine Centres, set up in all possible schools, marriage halls, sports complexes, etc, served by community kitchens with 24x7 medical services at hand. BMC containment strategy The BMC also forged strategic PPPs for containment measures, all available private medicos, clinics and hospitals were mobilised, and provided with full PPE kits and other equipment for door-to-door screening and identifying the suspects as early as possible. As part of the effective containment strategy, there was uninterrupted supply of essential goods and supplies to the local community, and only critical patients were shifted out of Dharavi to hospitals while 90 per cent got full treatment within the slum area. The BMC distributed over 25,000 grocery kits, 21,000 lunch and dinner food packets, local elected representatives also supplied foodstuffs and PPE kits, etc free of cost, thereby eliminating the need for people to move out of their homes. There was frequent large-scale sanitisation of the containment zones or sealed localities, public toilets, buses operated for staff movement, local community leaders of different communities were appointed as 'Covid Yoddhas' to serve as a link with the authorities and dispel any fears or concerns of their members. (Quaid Najmi can be contacted at q.najmi@ians.in) Source: k

Read More........ → June 22, 2020

Godrej Properties sells 300 flats for Rs 700 cr in Mumbai

By PTI Dec 07 2015 , New Delhi, Realty firm Godrej Properties has sold 300 flats worth over Rs 700 crore in just one week in its project at Vikhroli, Mumbai, even as the housing segment is facing huge demand slowdown. Godrej Properties, the real estate development arm of the Godrej group, today informed BSE that "it has sold 300 apartments within one week at 'The Trees', its flagship project in Vikhroli, Mumbai." "The value of the apartments sold is in excess of 700 crore making this Godrej Properties' most successful ever launch in terms of value of real estate sold. This is also one of the country’s most successful recent launches," it added. Godrej Properties has launched 374 apartments in the first phase of the project. "We are thrilled with the customer response to the launch of The Trees in Vikhroli. We will do everything possible to ensure we deliver our customers an outstanding and innovative project," Godrej Properties MD and CEO Pirojsha Godrej said. Spread across 34 acres, the mixed-use development project contains a commercial precinct spread across 9.4 acres, which houses Godrej One, the Godrej Group's global headquarters. The central mixed use precinct, spread over 9.2 acres, will comprise of a 5-star luxury hotel, cultural buildings, luxury residential and a high street retail park. The more private luxury residential precinct spread across 6.7 acres, which was recently opened for sale, will house a community of residential buildings with private parks and an iconic clubhouse facility. Godrej Properties is developing residential, commercial and township projects spread across 110.30 million sq ft in 12 cities. On the back of BKC deal, the company has achieved a sales booking of over Rs 3,200 crore in the first half of the fiscal, crossing Rs 2,681-crore sales booking in the entire 2014-15 fiscal. The company in September had sold 4.35 lakh sq ft office space to Abbott India in 'Godrej BKC' project at Bandra Kulra Complex (BKC), Mumbai for Rs 1,479 crore. Source: mydigitalfc.com, Image: https://upload.wikimedia.org

Read More........ → December 07, 2015