Maharashtra has been the worst-hit state of India under the rapidly increasing COVID-19 outbreak. The state has recorded the highest number of cases & the majority of the fatalities due to the virus outbreak. However, the state looks to have a sigh of relief with reducing doubling rate & the number of hotspots.
In a statement given to media Maharashtra’s Health Minister Rajesh Tope, on Thursday said that the doubling rate of cases in the state has lowered to 7 days while on the other hand, the number of hotspots in the state has now come down to 5 from previous standing of 14.
“Our doubling rate has now reached 7.01 today. This means that the present figures will double after 7 days. But we will not allow that to happen and will bring it further down,” Tope said.
“There were 14 hotspots in the state, now there are only 5, which are Mumbai, MMR, Nagpur, Pune, and Malegaon,” the Maharashtra health minister was further quoted as saying.
While talking about the condition of the state & its situation to get hold of the disease, Rajesh told the media that they are fully prepared with 1,55,000 isolation beds and a capacity of 7,000 tests per day. “13% of patients are getting discharged every day while 83% are asymptomatic,” he said.
“We will aggressively increase institutional quarantine from Thursday. We are also widely using plasma therapy. We are using blood samples/antibodies of recovered patients and using it for treating others,” Tope further mentioned.
One of the biggest concerns for Maharashtra remains the slum-area in Mumbai, Dharavi, which is the biggest slum in entire Asia. Home quarantine at such place is not an option & thus, Tope said they are looking for using larger spaces like schools, etc., while to arrange oxygen stations there.