CITY REPORTS 789 NEW CASES, 11 NEW OMICRON VARIANT CASES

MUMBAI: After six consecutive days of rise in Covid-19 cases, the city reported 789 new cases on Monday. This indicates that the surge has been continuous although the number of new cases on Monday was marginally lower than that on Sunday (896). A positivity rate of 1.68% was reported on Monday. On Monday, 788 cases were reported taking the tally to 771,698 and three deaths which took the death toll to 16,373. The city reported a 96% recovery rate with 747,997 recoveries, while the mortality rate was 2.12%. There are 4,765 active cases in the city. Additionally, 11 new Omicron variant Covid-19 cases have been reported in the city, taking the count to 84.

According to BMC officials, there is possibility of a further increase to 4,000 to 5,000 cases being reported daily if the same growth pattern continues for the next few days. As per data, a major spike has been reported since December 21 when more than 300 cases were reported, followed by close to 500 cases on December 22, and more than 800 cases in the last two days breaking the records of the past six months. A senior BMC official said, “If the same trend of a similar spike continues, the daily caseload might soon touch the 4,000 to 5,000 mark. However, we will have to wait and watch.” Despite a spike in the number of cases, BMC officials said they could not call it the beginning of a third wave, yet.

Suresh Kakani, additional municipal commissioner of the BMC said, “This is too early to say whether the rise in cases is a sign of the third wave because most of the cases that are reported are either asymptomatic or with mild symptoms. The number of daily cases is fluctuating and there is no consistent trend. We will wait and watch the situation for the next one week before coming to any conclusion.” The Maharashtra Covid-19 taskforce will monitor the situation weekly for the next few days.