More restrictions loom in state, city
Maha reported 3,900 cases (79% more than previous day) while Mumbai’s daily new cases stood at 2,445
MUMBAI: The state government on Wednesday indicated that it was all set to impose stricter restrictions than at present in order to limit the rate of Covid transmission after Maharashtra and Mumbai recorded another surge in cases. The state reported 3,900 cases (79% more than the previous day) while Mumbai’s daily new cases stood at 2,445 (83% more than Tuesday). Mumbai alone accounted for 62.69% of all of Maharashtra’s cases.
Experts said the surge indicates the beginning of a third wave, and could well be on account of the highly-mutated Omicron variant. Dr Shashank Joshi, member of the state’s Covid-19 task force, said Mumbai is already in the midst of a third wave. “Covid-19 cases jumped from 600 to nearly 2500 in just five days,” he said. “The rapid growth clearly indicates an Omicron outbreak, and this variant will replace Delta. Though medical infrastructure is not overwhelmed, we will have to remain vigilant. The reduced doubling time, a mild disease with no impact on hospitalisations is an indicator of Omicron being the predominant strain in Mumbai,” he said.
Maharashtra’s test positivity rate (TPR, or the number of positive cases per 100 tests) on Wednesday recorded a new high (3.16%). The last time the state recorded a TPR higher than 3% was on August 13 (3.04%).
People detected with the Omicron variant also touched a high yesterday with 85 new cases reported from Mumbai, Nagpur, Pune, Pimpri-chinchwad, Panvel, Kolhapur, Buldhana and Kalyan-dombivli. A senior health official confirmed that 12 of the 85 cases recorded today were from the state legislature. None of them had any history of international travel. On Tuesday, the state government had confirmed that Vidhan Bhavan had reported 54 positive cases during this year’s winter session from December 22-28.
“This cluster includes people who attended the sessions and some who were a part of the security at Vidhan Bhavan. The 12 patients are from different parts of the state and none of them has any history of international travel,” said state’s surveillance officer Dr Pradeep Awate.
Forty-seven of the 85 Omicron cases reported on Wednesday were detected at the National Institute of Virology in Pune, while 38 were identified at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, also at Pune. The cases from Vidhan Bhavan are from the second cluster, in which none had a history of international travel. With Wednesday’s data, Maharashtra Omicron count rose to 252, with Mumbai accounting for 137 cases. Ninety-nine Omicron patients have been discharged after testing negative RT-PCR tests.
Health minister Rajesh Tope described the situation as alarming and said he will shortly meet Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to discuss the imposition of more curbs. “Mumbai’s positivity rate is more than 4%. This is not a good sign,” he said. “The surge is alarming and we will shortly meet the chief minister. We may be forced to tighten curbs.” This meeting is expected to take place on either Friday or Saturday.
Tope blamed citizens for their causal attitude towards Covidappropriate behaviour, especially wearing masks. “Today, people are holding weddings or other social functions without adhering to Covid regulations. In such circumstances, we will have to impose more restrictions,” he added. As a precursor, the state government issued fresh guidelines on Wednesday, asking citizens not to step out as far as possible and welcome the New Year from their homes this
December 31 night. According to health department officials, the state may impose curbs such as restricting operating times of retail outlets regulating the timings at malls and shops, reducing the number of guests at weddings, closing down gymnasiums and spas, and restricting facilities to unvaccinated people.
Suresh Kakani, additional municipal commissioner, BMC, and the officer in-charge of public health, said that owing to rising cases, the BMC has started random tests at public places and hospitals and attributed this factor with the rise in daily cases. “The city is functioning like precovid times,” he said. “While there is a surge, there is no increase in hospital admission.”
A Covid-19 review meeting chaired by state minister Aaditya Thackeray was held at the BMC headquarters. The BMC on Wednesday stated that ward officials will have to compulsorily check the CCTV cameras of every hotel, pub and bars to check that there is no violation of the norms. The number of sealed buildings in Mumbai also jumped 60%. Last week, there were 17 sealed buildings in Mumbai, while on December 29 there are 37. “While there are no cases in slum areas, cluster cases are being reported from high rises and a majority of them have already taken both the doses and don’t have symptoms, still we are sealing the buildings as a precautionary measure,” said Vaqar Javeed, ward officer of Borivli, which has the highest buildings with sealed floors.