Hindustan Times ST (Mumbai) - HT Navi Mumbai Live
At 2,877 cases, city sees highest daily spike
MUMBAI With 2,877 cases in a single day, Mumbai on Thursday reported the highest single day spike in Covid-19 cases since the beginning of the pandemic outbreak in the city on March 11 last year.
Until Thursday, the highest number of cases reported in Mumbai in a single day was 2,848, on October 7. Experts and doctors have categorised this as yet another peak in Mumbai’s Covid graph. The previous peaks were reported during the festival season in September and October, and in May.
Mumbai also reported eight deaths due to Covid-19 on Thursday, taking the toll to 11,559 with a case fatality rate of 3.2%.
The number of active cases in the city has also gone up to 17,153 on Thursday. Until now, Mumbai has reported a total of 352,851 Covid-19 cases. This has brought down Mumbai’s recovery rate to 91%, from the 94-95% recorded in January and February.
This is a result of 23,402 tests that were conducted in Mumbai on Wednesday, with the single day positivity rate of 12.2%. In contrast, on October 7 last year, Mumbai had a higher single day positivity rate of 20.01%, as it had conducted 14,233 tests on that day. Positivity rate is calculated as a percent of positive cases to the total number of tests done.
The overall growth rate of Covid-19 cases in the city has shot up to 0.51%, which was about 0.15% mid-February. The doubling rate has dropped to 136 days down from 455 days midFebruary. Doubling rate is the number of days it takes for Covid-19 cases to double in the city.
Experts have attributed the spike to unlocking of the city and opening up of economy. “There is also a Covid-bravado among all citizens – akin to a sense of living with Covid-19 which translates to non-adherence to hygiene such as wearing of face masks, hand sanitizing; and a sense of “relief that a vaccine against the virus has now come, and it is only a matter of time before citizens can live without fear of the infection,” experts say.
Dr Rahul Pandit, a senior citybased doctor who is member of the government Covid-19 task force, said, “There is no doubt that the number of cases is alarming. This can be looked at as a peak in cases for Mumbai. We also need to see this in perspective of the number of tests done and the positivity rate. Mumbai has ramped up its testing capacity considerably, so it is one of the reasons for high numbers. It also means we are able to locate positive patients on time, with more tests.”
According to Dr Pandit, Mumbai can expect this peak for a few more days. “There is no way to predict how many days this peak will last. Mumbai has typically not been like other places where it touches the peak and comes down. We have stayed at the peak for some time.”
Mumbai on Thursday vaccinated a total of 39,644 beneficiaries, of which 23,599 were senior citizens and 4,525 were citizens above the age of 45 with co-morbidities. While 33,125 beneficiaries received the first dose of their vaccine, including healthcare and frontline workers, senior citizens and those above 45 years with comorbidities, 6,519
received the second dose among healthcare and frontline workers. So far, Mumbai has vaccinated 768,261 people, of which 669,450 received their first dose, and 98,811 have received their second dose.There are 91 vaccination centres in the city.
Suresh Kakani, additional municipal commissioner, incharge of BMC’s health department,said, “Two conclusions were made in the meeting: to ramp up testing, and rapidly vaccinate the population.”