Mumbai: Maharashtra is witnessing a sudden surge in COVID cases for the past week, with Mumbai logging the most number of cases.
The maximum city on Sunday reported 961 new Covid-19 cases and the day before, it logged 889 infections. And the total number of cases reported in the first five days of June is more than double the total number of cases in March (1,519), almost 60% of the April cases (1,795) and over 50% of the May burden (5838).
Now, the question remains, is Mumbai becoming the epicentre for the 4th COVID wave?
Officials said the surge was likely being driven by Omicron variant’s offshoots, the BA.4 and BA.5 sub-lineages. “Most of the infections [in the state] are from the BA.4 and BA.5 strains [of the Omicron variant], which are highly transmissible,” said health minister Rajesh Tope following a meeting of the state cabinet with chief minister Uddhav Thackeray.
The rate of hospitalisation in the state and in Mumbai continues to remain low, Tope said.
“Hospital admissions are very low. As per the data, only 1% of the positive cases are admitted to hospitals in the state. So, severity is low and therefore it is not a major cause of concern,” Tope said.
Of the 24,579 beds in Mumbai, only 0.74% (185) was occupied on Monday. Of the 4,768 oxygen beds, only 0.29% (14) was occupied.
Mumbai recorded 676 fresh cases on Monday (out of the state’s 1,036 new cases), contributing 60%-70% cases to the state’s daily tally since the last week of May, when the state-wide figures began picking up.
Tope offered a detailed analysis of on-ground situation to the state cabinet. In the last seven days, Mumbai contributed 67.28% of the total cases recorded in the state followed by Thane (17.17%), Pune (7.42%), Raigad (3.36%) and Palghar (2%), the presentation showed.
“These five districts have recorded a [daily] positivity rate of between 3% and 8%. Looking at the high positivity rate, the local administration has been asked to ramp up the testing,” Tope said.
Tope reiterated an earlier statement and said citizens were “encouraged” to mask up especially in public transportation and other sites of crowding. “Masks have to be worn by all, especially in the districts where positivity is high. However, masks are not made mandatory and not wearing them would not attract any fine. However, we appeal to the people to wear face masks and also administer the precaution dose, if they are eligible,” he said.
Last week, the state task force recommended that mandatory mask-wearing should be re-introduced — all restrictions, including mandatory mask wearing, were dropped on April 1. Additional chief secretary (public health) Pradeep Vyas wrote to district collectors twice last week, directing them to ramp up testing and encourage the wearing of masks in public places; Mumbai’s civic body chief Iqbal Chahal also issued a statement last week that the number of tests conducted daily (which have remained below 10,000) would be increased to 40,000.
