Highest single-day spike in city at 15,014 | Mumbai news - Hindustan Times
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Highest single-day spike in city at 15,014

ByPratip Acharya
Jan 05, 2022 09:36 PM IST

Mumbai recorded its highest-ever single-day spike as the daily case tally breached the 15,000-mark on Wednesday

Mumbai Mumbai recorded its highest-ever single-day spike as the daily case tally breached the 15,000-mark on Wednesday.

The city recorded 15,014 fresh infections in the last 24 hours, making it the highest single-day count (Vijay Bate)
The city recorded 15,014 fresh infections in the last 24 hours, making it the highest single-day count (Vijay Bate)

The city recorded 15,014 fresh infections in the last 24 hours, making it the highest single-day count. Earlier, 11,206 fresh infections were reported on April 4, 2021, which was then the single-day highest case tally after the pandemic outbreak. The city also recorded 100 Omicron cases on Wednesday, taking the tally to 508.

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Out of the 15,166 infections reported on Wednesday, 13,195 were asymptomatic and the bed-occupancy level stayed at 14.4 per cent, with 5,104 out of 35,487 beds occupied.

Besides this, three deaths were reported in Mumbai on Wednesday taking the total death tally to 16,384.

On Wednesday, a total of 60,014 tests were conducted. Mumbai’s Dharavi, which became a Covid-19 hotspot last year, recorded 81 cases on Wednesday, which is also the highest since April 4, when the slum cluster recorded 99 cases.

Senior BMC officials stated that in comparison to the rising case tally, the demand for hospital admission is not very high. However, experts stated that they need to wait for at least ten more days before coming to any conclusion.

Dr Rahul Pandit, director of critical care in Fortis hospital and member of the national Covid-19 task force and the Maharashtra Covid-19 task force said that the nature of the spread shows characteristics of the Omicron variant.

“While the spread is similar to the characteristics of the Omicron variant, we will have to wait for the genome sequencing report before making any concrete comment,” said Pandit.

“Also it’s too early to comment on the rate of hospital beds occupancy. The cases started to spike from December 20 and we will have to wait and watch the situation till January 15 because it usually takes the variant of a virus two-three weeks to show up its actual symptoms,” Pandit added.

Dr Om Srivastava, who is also a member of the state Covid-19 task force, said that it is likely that along with Omicron the presence of Delta and Delta plus variants are still valid in the fresh cases.

“The cases are rising steadily and we can anticipate more cases in the coming days. We will only be able to know the intensity of the Omicron variant and how well it has spread once more samples are tested for genome sequencing. But as of now, we are sure that there is not just Omicron but Delta and Delta plus is also there,” said Srivastava.

Meanwhile, the BMC said that out of the cases that are being reported daily, 90 per cent are from high-rise buildings. The number of active sealed buildings also increased rapidly in just 10 days.

At present, the K/West ward presently has 4,564 active cases, which is the highest in city followed by H/West ward (Bandra west), K/East (Andheri east) and D ward (Malabar Hills).

Speaking to HT, Prashant Gaikwad, ward officer from D ward, said that most of the fresh cases are coming out from contact tracing of the high-risk contacts.

“During the first and second wave, for every one positive patient, one high-risk contact would test positive. Now, for every positive patient, there are at least two high-risk contacts, who are testing positive,” said Gaikwad.

The BMC’s K/West ward office on Wednesday issued a circular to the high rises and housing societies stating that rampant testing will be conducted.

Vaqar Javeed, assistant municipal commissioner of form R/Central ward, which also has a significant number of active cases, said that cluster cases are being reported in buildings that have joint families living inside them.

“As most of the fresh patients are fully-vaccinated, the symptoms that are very mild and the rate of hospital admissions is also very low,” said Javeed.

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