Case fatality rate falls but curve hasn’t flattened yet

Deaths Down To Single Digits Again

Bhavika Jain & Sumitra DebRoy TNN

Mumbai:17.04.2020

For the second day in a row, the state reported deaths in single digit: 7. Of these, 3 were from Mumbai and the rest from Pune. Maharashtra now accounts for 194 deaths, of which 117 are from Mumbai.

In Mumbai, as deaths rose from two on Wednesday to three, additional municipal commissioner Suresh Kakani said the numbers have given them hope, but it will be early to say the curve has flattened. He said the revised testing strategy— of testing only those who have symptoms—will be implemented from Friday. “These are results of samples of all high-risk contacts tested from containment areas. We have seen a slight dip in cases, but we will not bring our guard down,” he said.

Kakani said reorganisation of patients depending on status of illness has begun. “Our intention was to open up critical beds, many of which are occupied by mild, moderate patients. We have1,500 beds in the 6 dedicated Covid-19 hospitals,” he said. Another civic official said 497 beds are available in dedicated hospitals, but there were issues around ICU beds with ventilators and availability of dialysis.

Of 3 deaths in Mumbai, two were of men who were 60 and one of a 54-year-old. A 60-year-old man admitted at Kasturba Hospital on April 10 had no comorbidities, while the other two, the 54-year-old and the other 60-year-old, had diabetes and hypertension.

The case fatality rate of the state on Thursday was 6.05% and that of Mumbai was 5.64%, a dip from the past few days. Tope said the state will do an audit of every death recorded. Tope said Maharashtra had carried out nearly 30% of the total tests conducted in the country.

A BEST conductor from Goregaon bus depot on Thursday told his superiors he was “Covid-19 positive” and was admitted to a private hospital in Bhayander. BEST officials have asked him to get himself tested properly and submit the report. “We have not got any test report, so we cannot confirm at this stage,” said an official. Six other conductors, drivers and cash counting staff from the depot who were in contact with him have been quarantined. In another case, a staffer from the depot was quarantined after a family member tested positive.

Five patients were detected positive in Thane city on Thursday, taking the number there to 106. Three of the five had been kept in isolation at the civic-run Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Hospital.

Badlapur saw a sudden rise in cases with 8 testing positive. They include four relatives of a Wockhardt hospital employee who tested positive and four family members of a policeman whose wife and daughter recently tested positive. The numbers of patients in Badlapur is 12, including one death.

Two more tested positive in the jurisdiction of Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation. Both are health workers. Cases registered within NMMC are 54, with 4 deaths.

Panvel police on Thursday registered an offence against a 42-year-old patient admitted to the sub-district hospital after he allegedly deliberately coughed while a doctor was attending to him. The patient was said to have been miffed as he wanted to be treated at MGM hospital in Kamothe instead of the government hospital.

Even as the government accounted for four deaths from Pune, an additional death was reported by local officials. All five had underlying conditions. Pune city also had 60 fresh cases on Thursday. PMR now has 497 cases.

A BMC worker sorts out food packets to distribute to the needy in a Dharavi slum on