Mumbai, Apr 14 (IANS): In a shocker, Maharashtra has willy-nilly emerged as a global hotspot of the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of the mortality rate, even as the country went into an extended lockdown till May 3, latest data reveals.
According to official figures released here on Tuesday, the mortality rate -- or percentage of deaths -- is the highest in the world, giving a huge cause of concern to health authorities in the state and Centre.
As per the figures of the past five day -- April 10 to April 15 -- compiled by the Public Health Department and analysed by the Medical Education and Drugs Department (MEDD), it is revealed that Maharashtra not only continues to surpass the global mortality rate, the state, in fact leads the world.
Taking serious note of the increasing coronavirus fatalities, Health Minister Rajesh Tope on Tuesday set up two high-level expert committees -- one for Mumbai and another for rest of the state, to probe the cases of the high number of deaths and suggest remedial measures.
"The Mumbai committee is headed by Dr. Avinash Supe and the state committee with six experts is headed by Director-Health, to advise the government how to reduce the number of mortalities in Maharashtra," said Tope.
On Tuesday, with 12 new corona deaths totalling to 160, the state achieved a mortality rate of 6.84 per cent. In comparison, with 5,702 new deaths, the total global deaths stood at 111,652 or mortality rate stood at 6.29 per cent.
Against this, the Indian average mortality rate was only 3.27 per cent with 32 new deaths and total 338 casualties.
The total number of corona cases recorded in the world were 1,773,084, India had 10,369 and Maharashtra's 2,340.
On April 13 also, a similar situation was noticed. With 21 new corona deaths totalling to 148, the state achieved a mortality rate of 7.41 per cent. In comparison, with 6,262 new deaths, the total global deaths stood at 105,952, or a mortality rate of 6.24 per cent.
Against this, the Indian average mortality rate in India was 3.35 per cent with 34 new deaths and total 307 casualties.
The total number of corona cases on April 13 recorded in the world were 1,696,588, India 9,163 and Maharashtra's 1996.
On April 12, The situation was equally bad for the state in terms of mortality rate.
With 17 new corona deaths totalling to 127, the state achieved a mortality rate of 7.21 per cent. In comparison, with 6,892 new deaths, the total global deaths stood at 99,690, or a mortality rate of 6.19 per cent.
Against this, the Indian average mortality rate was 3.27 per cent with 34 new deaths and total 273 casualties.
The total number of corona cases recorded on April 12 in the world were 1,610,909, India had 8,356 and Maharashtra's 1,761.
April 11 was relatively better for Maharashtra with the mortality rate slightly improving.
With 13 new corona deaths totaling to 110, the state achieved a mortality rate of 6.98 per cent. In comparison, with 7,277 new deaths, the total global deaths stood at 92,798 or a mortality rate of 6.10 percent.
Against this, the Indian average mortality rate was 3.21 per cent with 40 new deaths and total 239 casualties.
The total number of corona cases recorded in the world on April 11were 1,521,252, India had 7,447 and Maharashtra's 1,574.
On April 10, Maharashtra mortality was a notch higher, as per the official data.
With 25 new corona deaths totalling to 97, the state achieved a mortality rate of 7.11 per cent. In comparison, with 6,287 new deaths, the total global deaths stood at 85,522 deaths, or a mortality rate of 5.95 per cent.
Against this, the Indian average mortality rate was 3.10 per cent with 33 new deaths and total 199 casualties.
The total number of corona cases recorded in the world on April 10 were 1,436,198, India had 6,412 and Maharashtra's 1,364.
The country had only three coronavirus cases consistently for the first four weeks, which increased to 724 cases in the eighth week, but shot up by more than 10 times to touch 7,447 cases in the 11th week of the pandemic entering the sub-continent.
By comparison, the US's journey started with 11 cases in the first week to 395,030 in the 12th week; Italy began with three in the first week to touch 147,577 in the 10th week; Spain opened its account with a single (01) case in the first week to zoom to 152,446 in the 10th week.