Maharashtra, the state hardest hit by the spread of the coronavirus disease in India, has been achieving grim milestones every few days.
The state saw 17,433 new cases of Covid-19 – its highest single-day spike – on Wednesday which took the tally to 8,25,739. This count is more than the number of coronavirus disease cases in fifth worst-affected country Peru.
According to World Health Organisation (WHO), Peru’s count of Covid-19 cases stands at 6,52,037. And next in the list is Russia with 10,05,000. And Maharashtra is not far behind the million mark.
Maharashtra’s previous highest one-day count was 16,867 cases, reported on August 29.
The reason for high caseload is the rate at which the infection is spreading in Maharashtra. It took 51 days for Maharashtra to reach the two lakh active cases mark; the number had crossed 1 lakh on July 12, 126 days from the first reported infection on March 9.
The number of cases in Maharashtra is also nearly 22 per cent of India’s total Covid-19 tally. The state took the lead since the early days of the spread of the infection in the country and has maintained it since then.
The state also reported 292 fresh deaths, 34 of them in Mumbai city, pushing up the fatality count to 25,195, the state health department said.
Mumbai reported 1,622 new coronavirus cases and 34 deaths, taking its tally to 1,48,569 and the toll to 7,727. Pune city reported 1,706 fresh cases along with 28 deaths, pushing up the infection count to 1,04,555 and the toll to 2,607, the health department added.
Maharashtra’s case fatality rate (CFR) stands at 3.5 per cent, the health department said. This is slightly less than Gujarat, which has the highest CFR in the country.
