Covid-19 cases may surge after Ganesh Puja in Maharashtra, warns health official

State surveillance officer Dr Pradeep Awate said, “We have been observing that the cases tend to increase after the festivals as there are gatherings during the festivals. Citizens tend to flout basic rules like wearing masks or maintaining social distance.”

Maharashtra health officials on Saturday warned against a surge in coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases after 10-day Ganesh Puja festivities in the state, citing example of exponential rise in cases in Kerala after Onam.

People throng Dadar market ahead of the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai on September 5. (ANI file photo)

State surveillance officer Dr Pradeep Awate said, “We have been observing that the cases tend to increase after the festivals as there are gatherings during the festivals. Citizens tend to flout basic rules like wearing masks or maintaining social distance.”

Currently, Maharashtra ranks second in terms of active cases only behind Kerala. At present, there are 37,774 active cases in Maharashtra, of which five districts Mumbai, Thane, Pune, Satara and Ahmednagar account for 75.85% of all cases.

Awate said the state government has served advisories to all districts in the state and asked these five districts to observe caution. “We have asked them to ramp up the testing facilities as well as ensure that the patients are isolated and started their medication,” said Awate.

Maharashtra on Saturday recorded 3,075 new Covid-19 cases, its lowest since February 9 when the state reported 2,515 cases. However, the low case count on Saturday coincided with low testing on Friday, which marked the beginning of the 10-day-long Ganesh Puja in the state. In the last 24 hours, 133,479 Covid-19 tests were performed across the state, which is one of the lowest figures in months. The average daily testing so far this month has been 169,020, which was lower than August, when 193,848 tests were being performed every day.

The test positivity rate (TPR) over the last seven days in the state stood at 2.67%, but health officials are particularly worried about higher TPRs in eight districts. Pune with TPR 6.33%, Sangli (5.59%) and Ahmednagar (5.39%) have over 5% TPR, indicating the Covid-19 situation is yet to get under control.

Dr Ishwar Gilada, secretary-general, Organised Medicine Academic Guild, termed the entire scenario as “very confusing”. “We feel that the variants are causing havoc and not allowing the numbers to come down. In addition, the vaccination drive is not consistent across all districts due to the Centre-state tussle,” said Dr Gilada.

“On one hand, the government is asking people to celebrate low key Ganeshotsav and on the other thousands of buses are arranged to transport people to Konkan region. How can we control the virus in such a scenario?” asked Gilada.

The state has speeded up the vaccination drive with 935,575 beneficiaries getting Covid-19 vaccine doses on Saturday. The total number of Covid-19 vaccine doses administered in the state till date stood at 67,664,505, including 18,560,050 beneficiaries who have been fully vaccinated.

Mumbai on Saturday reported 361 new cases and four deaths due to Covid-19, taking its toll to 16,015. The total deaths in Maharashtra since the outbreak last year has jumped to 138,096.

Till date, 6,494,254 people in Maharashtra have tested positive for Covid-19 infections, according to the state health department data.

Of the 49,796 active Covid-19 patients across the state, Pune tops the list of district with 12,949 patients followed by Thane with 7,823 and Satara with 5,584 active cases.