Seventy-year-old Sunanda Patil is unable to understand why her hometown has become a “Covid-19 hotspot”. The bustling pilgrimage site, and one of the state’s richest districts with well-developed sugar, foundry and textile industries, with a per capita district domestic product of ₹36,178, has attracted the attention of the state and central governments.
Kolhapur district has reported over 10 per cent Covid-19 positivity rate since June, even as the rate has declined in other districts. Interestingly, out of 45 plus population in Kolhapur, around 70 per cent have received the first dose of the Kovid-19 vaccine and 10 per cent of the population has received the second dose.
Sunanda says, “I do not feel safe even after taking two vaccines because the figures of Kovid-19 are scary.”
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In the last one week (July 14-20), 17% of Kovid-19 cases in Maharashtra have come from Kolhapur district, which has a population of about 38 lakhs.
critical condition
“We are worried. The number of cases is coming down in some districts and normal life is back to normal with the easing of restrictions. But the situation in Kolhapur is grim,” says professional Anu Kadam.
Kolhapur has a mortality rate of 2.9 percent, which is higher than the state’s death rate of 2.1 percent. The recovery rate is 91.7 percent, which is the second lowest in the state after Sangli (91 percent). Maharashtra’s recovery rate is 96.33 percent. Kolhapur has 10,100 active cases and ranks fifth in number of active cases after Pune (15,042), Thane (12,549), Sangli (10,849) and Mumbai (10,638).
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State Health Minister Rajesh Tope, who visited Kolhapur last week, said the situation in the district was “serious” with a positivity rate of 9.7. But he said the situation would be under control by the end of July.
heading towards complete lockdown
Health officials say that the second wave started late in the district and hence the number of cases appears to be higher as compared to other districts.
Recently, a central team of experts visited Kolhapur and, according to sources, it has recommended complete lockdown in the district to control the number of COVID cases.
However, the traders and business houses of the city are strictly against any kind of lockdown. “We will have to shut the shutters permanently if the government imposes a complete lockdown. Already we have suffered huge losses and now we have no ability to survive”, said Rajesh Patil, a trader.
The state government and district administration are closely monitoring the situation. The administration is conducting a microscopic study of the detected cases by collecting data and genomic sequencing is on the cards to find out the virus type infecting the fully vaccinated people.
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