A total of 82 new cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) were detected in Maharashtra on Tuesday, a health official said, adding that the state’s tally reached 302.
This was the highest increase in the number of cases in a day in Maharashtra, but officials assured that there was nothing to worry about and this increase was due to the results of private laboratories.
According to the state health department, Mumbai accounted for 59 of the new cases. He said the total number of infections in the city was 151. Three cases were reported in Ahmednagar, while two cases were reported in the cities of Pune, Thane, Vasai, Virar, and Kalyan-Dombivali.
The Health Ministry website put the death toll at eight in the western state.
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Maharashtra, which was the first state to announce a shutdown to stop the epidemic on March 22, has the highest number of cases counted and fatal among all Indian states.
Bhushan Gagarani, a senior Indian Administrative Service (IAS) official, said the number of 59 cases is a collection of test reports validated by state laboratories in the last three days by private laboratories. Control room set up to deal with outbreaks.
As per the guidelines issued by the central government, the first 10 test reports of a private laboratory should be validated by a state-run laboratory.
Only then, the test reports of private laboratories are considered final.
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This is why the test reports of the last three days were submitted, which led to the perception that there was a spike, another senior health official said.
Currently, the state has the capacity to test more than 5,000 samples per day. Among them, 13 government laboratories have a capacity of 2,300 samples a day. State Health Minister Rajesh Tope said that eight private laboratories can test 2,800 samples a day.
“Since there is no need to conduct sample-testing at such a level, we are not using the test facilities at full capacity,” Tope said.
