Almost 10,000 children and teenagers tested positive for Covid-19 in Maharashtra’s Ahmednagar district in May, of which over 96 to 97% remained asymptomatic.
However, Sachin Solat, a member of Ahmednagar’s Covid task force, said there was nothing alarming in the high number of children and teenagers testing positive. “The number was around 11.5% of the total Covid cases registered in the month in the district, which is acceptable. There is nothing unusual about it,” he was quoted as saying by Times of India.
Solat said these children and teenagers got infected from elders in their family. “We must remember that there are hundreds of joint families staying together in one home, where the infection can spread easily,” he said.
Maharashtra on Monday reported 15,077 new COVID-19 cases, the lowest since March 15, taking the caseload to 57,46,892, while 184 more deaths pushed the toll to 95,344, the state health department said. On March 15, the state had reported 15,051 cases as it hurtled towards a devastating second COVID-19 wave. The daily count was also a sharp drop from 18,600 infections registered on Sunday. Recoveries far exceeded new infections.
As many as 33,000 patients were discharged from hospitals during the day, pushing the number of recovered cases to 53,95,370, a statement from the health department said. The state now has 2,53,367 active cases, it said. The COVID-19 recovery rate is 93.88 per cent, while the fatality rate is 1.66 per cent, the department said. The statement said 1,93,446 more people were tested for coronavirus in Maharashtra, taking the number of samples examined so far to 3,50,55,054.
