COVID-19 alert: Pune emerges as India’s biggest Coronavirus hotspot

Shikha Chaurasia

Pune, July 21 2020: The number of Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) cases in India now stands at 11.75 lakh. It remains one of the worst affected countries in the world. Inside the country, Maharashtra is responsible for a whopping 3.18 lakh patients.

Pune has always remained amongst the five worst-affected districts in India and has now emerged as an epicentre for COVID-19 pandemic. Pune has been reporting the highest number of new cases in the country since July 14. It has surpassed Thane which was previously the worst affected district in India.

Pune reports double the amount of new cases every day when compared with Mumbai even though the city’s population is less than half when compared with Mumbai. After the beginning of a 10-day lockdown, Pune city has reported the most number of cases during that time.

The rate of increase in COVID-19 cases in Pune is higher than that of any other district in India. The period of the doubling of COVID-19 cases is less than 15 days. The major reason behind the increase in Coronavirus cases is due to the city’s superior testing capacity. Over 5000 people being tested daily in Pune city. The test positivity rate in Pune now stands at 25 per cent.

Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) alone is responsible for the 70 percent of the total 55,000 cases. The city alone has reported 39,000 COVID-19 positive cases and the remaining 11,000 cases are from the neighbouring Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC).

The city’s healthcare infrastructure is now overburdened and is on the brink of falling apart. At least five people across the city have died in the last few days while waiting for an ICU bed.