275 COVID-19 patients did not die of the infection

This picture has been used for representation purpose

While the city crossed the 90,000 COVID-19 cases mark with more than 1,300 fresh cases on Friday, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) reported the death of 275 COVID-19 patients, who according to a state-appointed death committee, did not die due to the infection. Both the civic body and the committee have said that other causes led to the patients' death. Meanwhile, the state recorded an all-time high of 7,862 fresh cases and 226 COVID-related deaths.

State health department officials said that the 275 non-COVID deaths that the BMC added dated back to the period from April to June. While civic health officials confirmed that these patients had tested positive for COVID-19, when contacted, Additional Municipal Commissioner, Suresh Kakani said, "The state-appointed death audit committee has declared these deaths as non-COVID and we have uploaded the data on the website as per the ICMR guidelines. We are not aware of the causes of the deaths as we are yet to receive the report from the committee."

Of the 226 deaths in the state, 73 were reported from Mumbai, 26 from Pune, 17 from Thane, 12 from Navi Mumbai, 11 from Pimpri Chinchwad, 10 from Kalyan-Dombivli, nine each from Aurangabad and Vasai-Virar, eight from Bhiwandi, seven from Jalgaon, six from Panvel, five each from Nashik, Solapur and Ulhasnagar, four from Dhule, three each from Raigad and Buldhana and two from Amravati. There was one death each in Mira Bhayandar, Palghar, Kolhapur, Sangli, Ratnagiri, Jalna, Hingoli, Parbhani, Lartur, Washim and one was a resident of another state.

The mortality rate in the state stands at 4.15 per cent and Maharashtra now has a total of 9,893 deaths. Civic officials said of the 73 deaths in Mumbai, 58 patients were suffering from other ailments and 55 were senior citizens.

According to the state health officials, barring Mumbai, a high daily count was reported in Pune with 1,331 cases, 772 cases in Thane and 694 cases in Kalyan-Dombivli. There are 95,647 COVID-19 patients who are being treated in the state and on Friday, 5,366 patients were discharged after full recovery. Officials said that the recovery rate of the state is 55.62 per cent while Mumbai's recovery rate is 68 per cent.

Civic officials said that all the administrative wards now have a growth rate of less than 3 per cent and while the average growth rate of the city is 1.4 per cent, nine wards have a rate more than that. The number of deaths in G North ward touched 400 on Friday followed by 388 deaths in K East. The fresh cases include 12 in Dharavi, 35 in Dadar and 23 in Mahim.

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