Coronavirus: Maharashtra’s recovery rate rises to 43.3% after database updated
The recovery rate in the state, which has been the worst-hit by the disease, is now higher than the country’s.
Maharashtra’s coronavirus recovery rate increased to 43.3% on Friday from the earlier 31.2%, The Indian Express reported. India’s worst-hit state by the coronavirus pandemic has now surpassed the country’s average of 42.8%.
The sudden increase in the recovery rate was owing to district officials updating their database and the Indian Council of Medical Research’s revised discharge policy on May 11. The new policy allows asymptomatic people to be discharged from isolation facilities, after 10 days of being admitted. The previous guidelines required the person to be isolated in a hospital for 14 days, and be discharged only after they tested negative twice in 24 hours.
The total number of patients who have recovered in the state is now 26,997. Maharashtra has 33,133 active cases and 2,098 deaths, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The state has recorded a total of 62,228 cases.
Until Thursday, Maharashtra was discharging over 1,000 Covid-19 cases every day. Data from the state government on Friday showed that 8,381 people had been discharged from dedicated Covid Hospitals and Covid Care Centres, or had completed their 14-day home quarantine. Of these, 7,358 patients were from Mumbai. However, of the total recoveries, only 715 were discharged on Friday, and the others over the last few days.
Mumbai civic body’s Deputy Executive Health Officer Daksha Shah told the newspaper that a lot of people were getting discharged, but it was not being registered in the system. “A majority of the recovered were those who were discharged from Covid Care Centres and those in home isolation.”
An unidentified health official said that some districts were not following the Indian Council of Medical Research’s new policy.
Mumbai’s National Health Mission Director Anup Kumar Yadav said that they came across instances where a patient was discharged but it was not reflecting officially. “For example, a Thane resident would be admitted in a Mumbai hospital. When he was discharged the communication was not reaching Thane officials,” Yadav said. “This led to a gap in recorded figures and actual numbers.”
In Mumbai, the number of discharged or recovered patients was 8,650 until Thursday. This number doubled to 16,008 on Friday. Mumbai, one of the worst-hit cities in Maharashtra, registered 1,437 cases on Friday taking the total number of Covid-19 cases to 36,710. The city has recorded 1,173 deaths so far.
