Mumbai: As Maharashtra witnesses a sudden spike in Covid-19 cases, Amravati division in the state’s Vidarbha region has emerged as a new Covid hotspot.
Over the last five days, the Amravati division, which comprises the districts of Amravati, Akola, Buldhana, Yavatmal and Washim, has contributed about 24 per cent of Maharashtra’s total new Covid cases.
This is almost as high as the Mumbai circle, which comprises the city civic body’s jurisdiction as well as districts and municipal corporations considered part of the larger Mumbai Metropolitan Region.
Mumbai has been a Covid hotspot ever since the pandemic spread to Maharashtra.
Officials say there are fears of a possible mutation in the virus in the districts of Amravati division that have perhaps caused the spike. While samples have been sent for testing, the reports are still awaited.
Dr. Archana Patil, director, Directorate of Health Services, told ThePrint, “The districts of Amravati, Yavatmal, Akola and Pune have sent samples for genome sequencing to check for mutations to Pune’s National Institute of Virology (NIV) and one other institute. It will take eight to 10 days to get the results. Otherwise, there aren’t any specific local factors pertaining to the Amravati division that we can identify as reasons for the rise in cases.”
Authorities largely point to the same reason that is being cited for an overall increase in the prevalence of Covid in Maharashtra — lack of “Covid-appropriate behaviour” among people.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, in a public address Sunday, warned of a possible second wave and said he will give people eight days to fall in line with Covid norms before deciding on a possible lockdown.
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Districts impose local lockdowns
The sudden surge has prompted the district administrations in the Amravati division to impose restrictions.
The Amravati district will go under a week-long lockdown starting Monday night, with all shops, excluding essential service providers, to remain shut along with government and private educational institutions.
Other districts such as Akola, Washim, Yavatmal and Buldhana are to have certain strict curbs on the movement of people and economic activity, and have declared local areas with a higher prevalence as containment zones.
“The main reason (for spurt in cases) is people not following Covid appropriate behaviour. Measures regarding containment have been declared,” Amravati district collector Shelesh Nawal said. “We are levying strict fines for not wearing masks and not following social distancing. We have warned people that there will be more curbs if the cases don’t recede.”
“Then, there are fears of a mutation. We have been sending samples to a Pune lab for testing,” he added.
The spurt in cases in the Amravati division is largely led by Amravati district. On Sunday, the Amravati district reported 926 new Covid cases out of the state’s 6,971.
Jitendra Papalkar, district collector at Akola, said, “People flouting norms is the main reason. We have imposed a partial lockdown in the Akola municipal jurisdiction and at Akot, where cases are higher, and are ramping up testing.”
New hotspot
Until now, Mumbai and Pune contributed the bulk of Covid cases in Maharashtra.
According to data with the state health department, the entire state of Maharashtra recorded 29,578 new Covid cases between 17 February and 21 February. Of these, 7,010 cases were from the Amravati division itself.
In comparison, the Mumbai division has recorded 7,382 new Covid cases, or about 25 per cent of the state’s total new caseload in the same period. The Pune division, which comprises Pune city, Pimpri Chinchwad, the rest of the Pune district, Solapur and Satara districts, recorded 5,470 new Covid cases, or about 18.5 percent of the total new cases in Maharashtra.
Overall, the Amravati division has recorded 86,215 Covid positive cases so far, as against the Mumbai circle’s cumulative count of 7,13,685 cases. The entire state of Maharashtra has recorded 21,00,884 Covid positive cases so far, of which 52,956 are active.
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