Maharashtra coronavirus update: Palghar receives 3,000 antigen testing kits

As many as 3,000 antigen

testing kits have been given to Maharashtra's Palghar district and 10,000 more will be procured for the detection of COVID-19 infections, collector Dr Kailash Shinde said on Thursday.

In a recorded message, Shinde said the administration is doing its best to bring down the mortality rate, which is at 1.3 per cent, while the recovery rate was at 62 per cent.

The district has received 3,000 antigen testing kits under the state government's "Chase the Virus" campaign and 10,000 more will be procured by the district administration to screen suspected patients in the district, he said.

Moreover, an auto RT-PCR machine, with the capacity to test 500 samples a day, has been requisitioned at a lab in Dahanu, the collector said.

Apart from this, 50 patients will be tested daily using a TrueNat machine at a hospital in Wada, he added.

Shinde also urged people to contact the nearest fever clinic if they experience symptoms of SARI (acute respiratory disease) or influenza.

As per official data, 1,542 COVID-19 cases and 19 deaths have been reported in the rural areas of Palghar district.

Meanwhile, Thane district has seen 36 per cent rise in COVID-19 cases since the beginning of the month, while the toll has risen by 28 per cent, a district official said.

The tally in Thane city and Kalyan town has already crossed the 10,000 mark and the two places account for 25 per cent and 22 per cent of the total 47,063 cases in the district, the official said.