Covid: Pune remained the worst-affected city in the state with 5,371 cases and 52 deaths (File)

Mumbai:

Deaths in Maharashtra linked to COVID-19 remained worryingly high on Saturday, signalling that even though the daily infections have been declining lately, the deadly second wave of the coronavirus pandemic is far from over.

On Friday, Maharashtra, which had been consistently logging over 60,000 daily Covid cases last month, reported less than 40,000 cases after several weeks. Today, the daily Covid cases dropped further — the state logged 34,898 cases.

Maharashtra, however, witnessed a sharp spike in deaths due to the virus in 24 hours – from 695 on Friday to 960 today.

Recoveries outnumbered total cases in the last 24 hours – 59,073 patients were discharged on Saturday. The state’s recovery rate is 89.2 per cent. At 17.33 per cent, Maharashtra’s case positivity rate has also seen a decline.

Pune remained the worst-affected city in the state with 5,371 cases and 52 deaths, followed by Solapur, which reported 2,278 cases and 77 deaths.

Mumbai, which has been praised for bringing its coronavirus numbers down in the last two weeks, reported 1,447 cases.

However, at 62, the Maharashtra capital’s death count was bigger than the worst-hit Pune.

Nagpur reported a massive spike in death count – it logged 1,476 cases and 144 deaths in 24 hours.

In Mumbai, a total of 2,333 patients were discharged in a day. 24,896 new tests were conducted in the city, which is way lower than its April figures.

Similar trends are being witnessed in Delhi. The city reported 6,430 cases on Saturday, but the daily death count remained over 300.

Both Maharashtra and Delhi have largely shut down businesses and imposed strict restrictions on movement of people to arrest the spiralling growth of the virus.

The massive caseloads have stretched the health infrastructures of the states – and several other Covid-hit parts of the country – to the point of complete breakdown.

Experts have warned that a third wave will also hit the country if vaccinations against the virus are not expedited. However, several states have shown dismal vaccination records because of a shortage of vaccine doses.

The centre has promised that by December this year, the country will have over 2 billion doses, enough to vaccinate its entire eligible population.