The doubling rate of COVID-19 patients in Maharashtra has slowed down to 14 days from 3 days, the state government said on May 28. To strengthen its efforts to contain the spread of the deadly virus, the Uddhav Thackeray-led government today launched ‘chase the virus’ campaign with greater emphasis on testing, tracing and isolation.

As per the campaign, 15 close associates of a positive patient will be mandatorily institutionally quarantined. Community leaders have been asked to provide details on co-morbid patients, meals available in the institutional quarantine, cleanliness of toilets and whether private clinics are functional or not.

‘Emphasis on contact tracing has succeeded in breaking the corona chain,’ Ajoy Mehta, chief secretary, Maharashtra government said. ‘Awareness and lockdown among the people has made it possible to double the duration of the patient,’ Mehta added.

The mortality rate in the state was at 7.6% in April and is now reduced to 3.25%.

Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on May 9 had said that Maharashtra has been unable to break the chain of COVID-19 spreading in the state, urging people to stay indoors and abide by the instructions as part of the lockdown.

Maharashtra reported 2091 new cases on Tuesday, taking the state’s total number of cases to 54758. The active cases in the state however, stands at 36,004 and as many as 16954 patients have been discharged till date.

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