Mumbai, Pune account for 70 per cent of Covid-19 infections this year
The Whole Genome Sequencing of 184 Covid-19 samples from across Maharashtra found that 84 samples had the XFG variant, making it the dominating lineage. The LF.7 variant was detected in 34 samples while 27 samples reported the JN.1 variant.
The NB.1.8.1 variant was found in one sample from a 29-year-old woman in Pune, who had previously travelled to Hyderabad on May 16 and later had symptoms like fever, sore throat, headache and stomach pain. Her sample was collected on May 26 and sent for genome sequencing, according to state health authorities.
Overall, a total of 18,885 suspected samples were tested this year of which 1,700 were Covid-19 positive. Of these, 753 Covid cases were reported from Mumbai and 443 from Pune and the Covid positivity rate stands at 9 per cent. The maximum number of cases were reported in May (742) and June (951).
Presently, 105 patients have been hospitalised of which 34 are from Pune, 22 from Navi Mumbai, 15 from Mumbai and 11 from Thane. Fifteen persons require intensive care while one is on ventilator support. A total of 21 deaths have been reported. As per the report a total of 1,064 persons have recovered.
Meanwhile, of the 1,700 cases, an equal number of men and women had the infection while an age-wise analysis found that 291 persons are in the age group 21 to 30 years, 360 in the 31-40 age group, 262 in the 41 to 50 age group and 190 in the 51 to 60 age group. There were 208 persons in the 61-70 years age group, who had Covid infection, while 170 were in the 71-80 age group.
Since 2020, Maharashtra reported over 81.80 lakh cases and 1.48 lakh deaths.
The state authorities conducted a review of the Covid situation and as per the report since 2020, Maharashtra has reported a total of 81,80,064 Covid cases and 148,623 deaths. Last year there were 5,528 Covid cases and 35 deaths while in 2023 Maharashtra had reported 36,173 cases and 137 deaths. A mock drill of the state's preparedness to deal with Covid cases also indicated that there were 2572 ventilator supported beds, 3781 ICU beds, 13871 oxygen supported beds and 9658 beds without oxygen support.
Anuradha Mascarenhas is a journalist with The Indian Express and is based in Pune. A senior editor, Anuradha writes on health, research developments in the field of science and environment and takes keen interest in covering women's issues. With a career spanning over 25 years, Anuradha has also led teams and often coordinated the edition.
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