Daijiworld Media Network - Mumbai

Mumbai, Jul 21: At almost seven percent, Solapur has become the district with the highest COVID-19 case fatality rate (CFR) in Maharashtra. Formerly Jalgaon district had the highest CFR rate. Since July 1, the district has witnessed 43 percent rise in deaths with about 200-300 detections daily.

The district is known for its textile and bidi industries. The government and local administration are scrambling to bring down the mortality rate especially in these industries which are resulting due to the pre existing lung conditions with gradual exposure to toxic substances.

P Sivasankar, commissioner of Solapur municipal corporation said that the mortality rate has been around 15-20 percent among the textile and bidi workers and that an intensive screening is being taken up to pick them up early. A screening drive targeting 10.5 lac people showed about 1.1 lac people with comorbidities.

On Sunday, July 19, health minister Rajesh Tope had visited the district along with NCP chief Sharad Pawar and a team of doctors. The assessment showed a shortage of 400-500 trained medical personnel affecting the outcome in ICUs.

Jalgaon, which was the state's highest at 10 percent has dropped down to almost half.

Sources said that a single nurse had been seen manning ICUs with 35-40 critical patients.

Chief minister Udhav Thackeray taking a review of the situation has directed to implement 'chase the virus policy' that had shown results in Mumbai.

The country has crossed the one million mark, the state of Maharashtra alone has witnessed cases more than 3.1 lac. The cases recorded in Mumbai stands 1,02, 423 with 70,000 fully recovered cases.