2,377 new cases in Mumbai, highest in five months

The city on Wednesday reported 2,377 fresh covid-19 cases, crossing the 2,000-cases mark for the first time since October 15, when the city reported 2,119 cases in a single day

The city on Wednesday reported 2,377 fresh covid-19 cases, crossing the 2,000-cases mark for the first time since October 15, when the city reported 2,119 cases in a single day. Mumbai also reported eight deaths on Wednesday. The total number of cases in the city has now shot up to 349,974, and the toll has reached 11,551. There are 15,410 active cases in the city at present.

Health workers screen travellers at CSMT railway station. (Bhushan Koyande/ HT Photo)

Suresh Kakani, additional municipal commissioner, incharge of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) public health department, said, “Lockdown is not on the agenda for Mumbai right now. But restrictions related to following rules are being implemented very strictly. Maintaining social distancing and wearing face masks at public places are mandatory. The BMC is showing zero tolerance toward anyone breaking these rules or even home quarantine. A lockdown is mainly imposed to get health infrastructure ready, educate people and standardise treatment protocol.”

Despite the recent spurt, Mumbai currently has 55% of its hospital beds available for Covid-19 as per data available as of March 16. Of the 13,062 hospital beds, 5,767 beds are occupied and 7,295 beds are vacant. In addition, Mumbai has 1,537 ICU beds for Covid-19 patients, of which 42% or 652 are unoccupied, according to data from BMC as of March 16. Of the 942 ventilator beds, 40% or 377 beds are unoccupied and the rest are occupied. The BMC also plans to activate 200 more ICU beds in tertiary hospitals across the city in the coming days.

As per data available for March 16, of the 15,263 active covid-19 cases, 62% or 9,489 patients are asymptomatic, 35% or 5,384 are symptomatic but in stable condition, and 3% or 426 patients are in a critical condition.

Kakani said, “We plan to activate some of the ICU beds in tertiary hospitals so that critical patients would be treated properly. We have the ecosystem in such hospitals to take care of critical patients.”

The present vacancy in Covid-19 beds has mainly been attributed to a larger percentage of active cases being asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic, and almost 90% of the case load coming from residential buildings. Asymptomatic patients living in residential buildings have the option of home quarantining themselves, as long as they have a separate room and toilet in their house for personal use. Else they are moved to Covid Care Centres (CCC2) or quarantine facilities. Mildly symptomatic patients are moved to hospitals or CCC2 facilities on the basis of severity of their symptoms.

Currently, the city has eight active CCC2 facilities, with a bed capacity of 587, of which 285 are occupied. The BMC also has 29 buffer CCC2 facilities with a bed capacity of 4,875.