‘Some evidence of community spread of Covid-19 in parts of Maharashtra’: State health official

On the rising number of Covid-19 cases in the country’s financial capital, Dr Awate said Mumbai’s case is very different as compared to other regions in the country.

There is some evidence of community transmission of Covid-19 in parts of Mumbai and Maharashtra, state disease surveillance officer Dr Pradip Awate told HT. However, the overall picture in Maharashtra is that of cluster cases, the official said.

School children wear face mask to protect themselves from coronavirus at Santacruz in Mumbai.(Satyabrata Tripathy/HT Photo)

“We are getting clusters of coronavirus cases in Mumbai and in the entire state of Maharashtra. There is some evidence of community spread not only in Mumbai but in other parts of the state but the overall picture is that we are getting clusters of cases,” Awate said.

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On the rising number of Covid-19 cases in the country’s financial capital, Awate said Mumbai’s case is very different as compared to other regions in the country. It is densely populated and has a distinct socio-economic significance.

“Not only is it the capital of the Maharashtra but its socio-economic location is also quite different from many other metros in India. It has more population density. 20,000 people are living here per square kilometre, so that is one of the reasons why Mumbai is throwing so many Covid-19 cases,” he said.  

With respect to cases of community transmission, Dr Awate called for an in-depth analysis of each and every case.

“We need to find out the linkage of each and every case, it’s travel history, likely exposure and all those things,” he said.

Maharashtra continues to lead the national Covid-19 tally with over 22,000 coronavirus cases. The state has recorded 832 deaths so far while 4199 patients have recovered from the disease. Mumbai alone has reported more than 12,000 Covid-19 cases.  Thane and Pune are also among the top Covid-19 affected regions in the state.

The number of coronavirus cases in the country breached the 67,000-mark on Monday. According to the latest figures updated by the Ministry of Health, the Covid-19 national tally stands at 67,152. There are 44,029 active coronavirus cases in the country, 20,916 patients have been cured or discharged while 2,206 people have died from the deadly contagion.