Weekend effect: Fewer tests done, state posts dip in cases in Maharashtra

Mumbai: Fewer diagnostics tests done during the extended weekend of Holi resulted in both Maharashtra and Mumbai registering fewer cases on Tuesday compared to daily detections registered most of last week.

Maharashtra conducted close to 1.3 lakh tests on Monday, down from the 1.5-1.7 lakh tests it was doing last week. Reporting a 21% positivity rate , the state has added 27,918 new cases and 139 deaths. With this, total caseload climbed to 27.7 lakh and fatalities rose to 54,422.

BMC, for its part, conducted over 40,000 tests daily between March 23 and 28, leading to detections in the 5,000-6,900 range daily. However, on March 28 and 29, 33,966 and 24,464 tests were performed respectively. This resulted in 5,890 detections on Monday and 4,760 on Tuesday. The city's overall tally has now crossed 4 lakh since March last year, with 11,675 deaths. Active cases have risen to 47,742.

BMC commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal on Tuesday said by early next week over 60,000 tests would be performed daily. He also said that bed capacity would be increased from 13,000-odd to 17,000 in a week.

Public health minister Rajesh Tope said he has been informed that deaths are being reported among young patients in certain districts as they are reporting late to hospitals and not monitoring themselves while in home isolation. “Patients are seen not to follow all the protocols while in home isolation and are reporting to hospitals very late with dropped oxygen levels," said Tope.Mumbai Metropolitan Region reported 8,807 cases and 21 deaths on Tuesday, taking total caseload to 8.8 lakh cases and 20,254 deaths. In Kalyan-Dombivli , 888 cases and three deaths were recorded. In Navi Mumbai, 690 cases and two deaths were reported. In Panvel, 259 Covid cases and one death were reported.