Pimpri-Chinchwad: Daily Covid tally falls below 1,000 for first time in 2 months

The positivity rate, which had shot up to 40 per cent in March-April, has also come down to around 12 per cent.

AFTER a gap of two months, daily tally of Covid-19 cases in Pimpri-Chinchwad fell below the 1000-mark on Saturday, and remained there on Sunday and Monday. The PCMC administration said it expected the numbers to fall further after the “peak” of March-April.

On Sunday, the industrial city registered 959 cases and on Monday, 814 cases. Monday’s number is lower than that of March 16, when Pimpri-Chinchwad had registered 894 cases but immediately the next day, the cases had crossed the 1000-mark. In some of the following days, the number of new cases daily had crossed 3,000.

Mayor Usha Dhore said tighter restrictions, especially the weekend lockdown, are yielding results and these should continue till cases fall further.

The positivity rate, which had shot up to 40 per cent in March-April, has also come down to around 12 per cent.

“In the last one week, we have seen the number of cases fall. Except for one day, when the cases went beyond 3,000, the entire week we have witnessed cases below 2000 mark. And on Saturday, it fell below 1,000 for the first time in several weeks,” said PCMC health chief Dr Pavan Salve.

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“In August and September last year, we had witnessed the peak… however, the numbers of March and April this year are much higher than the August-September cases. In fact, April registered a record number of around 75,000 total cases…,” he said.

Additional Municipal Commissioner Vikas Dhakane said the civic administration has taken a number of measures to contain the spread of the virus and the surge in cases. “The administration is working in close coordination with the police. The administration is doing everything possible to ensure that the Covid-19 patients don’t have to run from pillar to post for hospital beds as we have been scaling up oxygen supply as well as bed space in our facilities. We have also planned to reserve 300 beds for children in anticipation of the third wave,” he said.

“Stricter measures are in place to check the spread of the virus and we expect the numbers to fall further,” he said.

Mayor Dhore said, “After two months, we are finally breathing somewhat easy. But these are early days yet. We have to remain alert and on guard. We should not allow overcrowding at any place.”

The mayor said after she had raised the issue, the state government had give the green signal to the civic body to impose the weekend lockdown.

“Along with the daily restrictions, the weekend lockdown seems to be working. We should actually continue with the measure till the cases come down drastically. I thought about the lockdown because during weekends… people were seen crowding malls and shops and going for outings,” she said.

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