New Delhi: It is time to mask up again as daily COVID cases are rising in the nation. Amid the growing concerns of an upcoming fourth wave, Maharashtra’s Mumbai has recorded nearly 1,000 per cent increase in daily new COVID-19 cases since May 17. Mumbai recorded 158 daily cases while the total active caseload stood at 932 on May 17, 2022, which was also the last time active caseload remained below 1,000. Now, Mumbai has reported 1,803 new cases on Sunday (June 12). Less than a month later, total active cases have also breached the 10,000-mark for the first time in five months, as the financial capital recorded 10,047 on Saturday, a 978 per cent rise.
With 1,803 new cases on Sunday, Mumbai contributed nearly 59 per cent to the total daily COVID case tally of Maharashtra. Mumbai also accounted for 1/5th of the total daily COVID cases in India, as per the June 12 report.
Mumbai has added over 17,000 cases in its COVID-19 tally since May 17, with the doubling rate declining from 5,449 to 561 days on June 11. Doubling rate is the number of days it takes for the number of COVID-19 cases to double.
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According to government data, the city has been contributing 18 to 24 per cent to India’s total daily cases since June 1.
As per the state government’s COVID bulletin, 959 COVID patients recovered in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of recoveries since the beginning in the city to 1,050,285. The recovery rate in Mumbai is 97 per cent while it is 98.68 per cent nationally.
The 1,000 per cent rise in daily cases is a cause of concern as Mumbai has been a major COVID-affected city since 2020, recording COVID-19 numbers that are usually higher than rest of the country.
Currently, over 90 per cent of Mumbai’s cases are mild or asymptomatic and hospitalisations remain low. Gautam Khanna, CEO, PD Hinduja Hospital tells NDTV,
6 weeks ago, there weren’t any admissions, now we have started getting admissions for COVID and at present have 9 patients in the COVID ward.
On the other hand, Dr Ankit Mule, Physician, Wockhardt Hospital said that most patients have mild symptoms. He said,
Since 2-3 days, around 90% patients have to be admitted because they are showing symptoms like cold, cough, high grade fever.
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Mumbai has already geared up and alerted citizens to stay vigilant for a possible fourth wave, with the civic body Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) urging residents to wear a mask and follow all COVID safety rules. The civic body has put all labs and hospitals on alert and has ramped up testing.
Due to rising Covid-19 cases in Mumbai and a possibility of fourth wave, all labs and hospitals have been put on alert.
We urge all to wear masks and take care.#MyBMCUpdates #BMCUpdates pic.twitter.com/R6tLNUMl8c— माझी Mumbai, आपली BMC (@mybmc) June 4, 2022
Dr Rahul Pandit, a member of the National COVID Task Force, also a member of the Maharashtra COVID Taskforce and Director of Critical Care at Fortis Hospitals in Mumbai, weighs in on the reasons for this sharp rise.
There is no doubt that some of the districts in Maharashtra have been seeing a silent rise in the cases and the reason why I am using the word silent is that majority of the patients have been asymptomatic or mild symptomatic. Now whether to call this a wave or not, is just a play of words. We can simply say that the cases are rising and we need to control this as quickly as possible and that is how I would like to put it across.
Dr Pandit also says that in the last 2 years, experts have always sent one message across consistently – COVID is not gone yet. People need to continue to stay vigilant, he added.
Once we see a cluster or a particular district showing a rise in cases it is up to us to go back to our basics. Increase the testing, and make sure people are wearing masks, especially in the indoor areas where the circulation is poor. There is sufficient data to show that indoors with poor air circulation like auditoriums and offices, we should definitely wear masks. I think this should be a voluntary health habit. When it comes to outdoors, when in open air-ventilated places, data has shown that the transmission is not that high. But when in such spaces with big crowds, it would be worthwhile to wear a mask. In metropolitan cities like Mumbai, Delhi or Chennai, where the density of population is high, we should be wearing a mask.
NDTV – Dettol have been working towards a clean and healthy India since 2014 via the Banega Swachh India initiative, which is helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan. The campaign aims to highlight the inter-dependency of humans and the environment, and of humans on one another with the focus on One Health, One Planet, One Future – Leaving No One Behind. It stresses on the need to take care of, and consider, everyone’s health in India – especially vulnerable communities – the LGBTQ population, indigenous people, India’s different tribes, ethnic and linguistic minorities, people with disabilities, migrants, geographically remote populations, gender and sexual minorities. In wake of the current COVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign will continue to raise awareness on the same along with focussing on the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children, fight malnutrition, mental wellbeing, self care, science and health, adolescent health & gender awareness. Along with the health of people, the campaign has realised the need to also take care of the health of the eco-system. Our environment is fragile due to human activity, which is not only over-exploiting available resources, but also generating immense pollution as a result of using and extracting those resources. The imbalance has also led to immense biodiversity loss that has caused one of the biggest threats to human survival – climate change. It has now been described as a “code red for humanity.” The campaign will continue to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and sanitation workers and menstrual hygiene. Banega Swasth India will also be taking forward the dream of Swasth Bharat, the campaign feels that only a Swachh or clean India where toilets are used and open defecation free (ODF) status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, can eradicate diseases like diahorrea and the country can become a Swasth or healthy India.
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