Covid-19 pandemic: Maharashtra, Kerala on high alert as cases spike

With several districts in Maharashtra reporting high Covid-19 positivity rate and Kerala over 1,000 cases a day for the past seven days, these two states are now on high alert in terms of preparedness.

Six districts in Maharashtra, including Mumbai, Thane, Palghar, Raigad, and Pune, are posting high positivity rates. The state health minister has asked these districts to ramp up testing rapidly. While Thane reported a positivity rate of 20 per cent on Monday, Mumbai saw a positivity rate of 8.8 per cent.

On Tuesday, Maharashtra recorded 1,881 new Covid cases, 81 per cent more than the previous day and highest since February 18, and also reported one case of B.A.5 variant, the state health department said. Mumbai alone accounted for 1,242 new cases, almost double the Monday's count.

The capital city, which witnesses the highest demand for hospital beds, has started to activate the field hospitals and keep its private health infrastructure ready for any rise in hospitalisation.

At the moment, only senior citizens and those with co-morbid conditions are seeking admission. Less than 1 per cent of the total 24,601 beds in Mumbai’s public sector Covid-19 infrastructure are occupied. However, staff recruitment has begun at the jumbo centres in the city, and several of them that are now lying vacant are being activated.

Most prefer private hospitals and, thus, the city civic body has already held meetings with the private hospitals.

Joy Chakraborty, chief operating officer of PD Hinduja Hospital in Mumbai, said a meeting happened last week and there was a marginal increase in the patient admissions. He said wards could be activated as demand rises and the infrastructure is ready. “The BMC has requested us to keep our charges nominal and not to refuse any Covid-19 patient admissions,” he said.

Sanjith Saseedharan, consultant and head critical care at SL Raheja Hospital, Mahim-A Fortis Associate, said: “Mumbai has witnessed almost a threefold rise in the number of Covid-19 cases in the past couple of weeks. If the surge continues, then there are chances that the elderly population, people with co-morbidities or low immunity, will get infected. This might then lead to an increase in hospitalisation.”

The southern state of Kerala, too, is now actively working to brace any serious rise in hospitalisation needs.

With Kerala reporting over 1,000 cases a day for almost a week till Monday, the state is on high alert with all the district authorities being asked to keep equipment and facilities ready, in case of an unnatural spike in the number of cases.

According to an official source, special instructions are given to districts that have reported a higher number of cases like Ernakulam, Thiruvananthapuram, and Kottayam.

Covid-19 cases in the state increased to 2,271 cases on Tuesday, from around 1,494 on Monday. This is after a gap of three months that the state is seeing over 2,000 cases a day. For the past seven days, the state has seen an average of around 1,500 cases, ringing alarm bells for the authorities.

“The rise is very slow and today, the numbers have come down. The government has asked all the main centres to be on high alert and standby. One good thing is that admissions have not increased and, hence, there is no pressure on the existing health facilities,” said a state health official.

The state had also seen a test positivity rate of over 10 per cent for three consecutive days till Monday.

Adding to the woes of the authorities, the state had reported two cases of Norovirus at Vizhinjam and several people in the area were under observation. State health authorities said there was nothing to be worried about the situation.

“Kerala is reporting a higher number of cases because of a better health system here. However, the government should not try to manipulate any numbers like they were trying to, said SS Lal, a former official with the World Health Organization.