Covid-19 cases in Maharashtra shot up by 31 in the past 24 hours to stand at 156, even as a worried government wrote to the army to be prepared for ‘medical assistance’ if required, officials said here yesterday.
Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar announced that the government has written to the army to render assistance for any medical emergency if required.
In a related development, Mumbai’s Saifee Hospital director Vernon Desa said a senior doctor was found Covid-19 positive during a CT Scan at the hospital and later died at the isolation ward of the Hinduja Hospital.
“All containment and surveillance measures have been implemented to ensure the safety of our staff, patients and visitors. Saifee Hospital reiterates that it is fully operational,” Desa said amid speculation that the hospital was isolated by the authorities.
The state health authorities, terming the case as “suspected”, said the deceased was an 85-year old doctor suffering from severe diabetes and had a pacemaker.
Recently two of his close family members had travelled to the UK.
Further details are being collected, the officials said.
In one of the fastest overnight increase in the number of Covid-19 positive cases in the state, the figures mounted from 125 to 156, including 12 members of a single family in Sangli, besides new cases in Mumbai, Pune, Navi Mumbai, Palghar, Nagpur, Kolhapur, Gondia, etc.
In Mumbai, nine persons, including three women, tested positive. One of the women who tested positive has a travel history to the US and reportedly infected three others. All four have been admitted to the Bhabha Hospital in Kurla suburb.
Of the infected five males, one man has a travel history to the US, three to the UAE and one close contact.
An infant has reportedly been infected in Navi Mumbai, details of which are awaited.
Earlier yesterday, Health Minister Rajesh Tope said that so far 19 persons have fully recovered and have been discharged from hospitals in Mumbai, Pune and other places.
“There are many more cases on way to recovery, proving that the disease is curable. We have also tested over 4,200 persons. The strategy is three ‘Ts’ - tracing, testing and treatment of the patients,” Tope said.
He said the state was facing a shortage of blood for treatment of patients. He requested the public to donate blood.
Tope pointed out that since all flights to the state and other parts of India was shut due to the nationwide lockdown, the focus now was on locally acquired infections.
“From the new Covid-19 suspects or cases, we are concentrating on those with social contacts like families, neighbours, relatives, friends, etc. This emphasises the need to maintain social distancing which people must strictly follow, even when they go out to buy essentials,” Tope urged.
The state’s death toll has risen to five, including two women, both 65, who died on March 24 and March 26, and three males who died earlier last week.