Mumbai records 9,931 new cases, tally is 545,195

The city on Wednesday reported 9,931 Covid-19 cases and 54 deaths, taking the tally to 545,195, and toll to 12,147

The city on Wednesday reported 9,931 Covid-19 cases and 54 deaths, taking the tally to 545,195, and toll to 12,147. The city has 86,635 active cases and the case fatality rate is 2.2%.

HT Image

Throughout April, the number of deaths per day in Mumbai has been in double digits as opposed to the figures for February and March, even though the case fatality rate has been steady, owing to the increase in number of cases per day. In the past 14 days, throughout April, Mumbai has seen a total of 457 deaths, as opposed to 215 deaths in March. In the past 14 days, Mumbai has recorded a total of 130,422 covid-19 cases, as opposed to 88,856 cases in the whole of March. The case fatality rate in March was 0.2%, versus 0.3% in April.

On April 13, Mumbai reported 27 deaths; on April 12, 43; on April 11, 79 deaths; on April 10, 28 deaths; on April 9, 35 deaths, and on April 8, 25 deaths.

Experts and authorities say this is concerning. Dr Rahul Pandit, part of the Maharashtra government’s Covid-19 task force, said, “Every death due to Covid-19 is alarming. Our job in the task force is to suggest measures to reduce the number of deaths. Among the main reasons for the deaths in Covid are rapid spread of infections in lungs, delay in reporting to hospital and also delay in testing. Medical attention must be sought right away.”

However, Mumbai is also dealing with an overburdened health infrastructure due to the spike in daily cases. Mumbai currently has 4,105 vacant hospital beds for Covid-19 patients, 20% of its total capacity of 20,022. Of the 2,664 ICU beds, only 41 are available in the city; 15 of 1,339 beds ventilator beds are vacant. Of the total capacity of 10,361, 1,444 oxygen beds are available.

Dr Om Shrivastav, who is also a part of the government Covid-19 task force, said, “In a pandemic of this magnitude, health infrastructure is burdened. However, out of the total cases that come daily, 80% to 85% do not even require hospitalisation as they are asymptomatic. Not all patients who require hospitalization will require ventilator beds of ICUs.”

As per information available with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), for 86,866 active cases in Mumbai, 80% are asymptomatic, 18% are stable symptomatic, and 1.4% are critical. Dr Pandit said, “The present restrictions imposed by the government are needed, so we get time to scale our health infrastructure. In another 15 days, the burden on hospitals will hopefully reduce and more beds will be vacant, following these restrictions.”

Suresh Kakani, additional municipal commissioner incharge of the public health department in BMC, said, “The increase in the number of deaths is a matter of concern, even though the CFR is stable. The study is showing most deaths are in senior citizens, or citizens with severe comorbidities. In such cases, the most important aspect is to not waste a lot of time, and take the beds allotted by the civic body. Delay can cause complications in symptoms.”

Of the 54 deaths reported on Wednesday, 33 patients had comorbidities, 2 deaths were below 40 years of age, 15 deaths were between the age of 40 years and 60 years, and 37 deaths were in patients above 60 years of age.

While the highest number of cases reported in the city during this peak was 11,302 cases on April 4, in the past few days, Mumbai has been reporting under 10,000 cases a day. On Tuesday, Mumbai reported 7,873 cases, on Monday, it reported 6,893 cases, on Sunday it reported 9,986 cases, and on Saturday, it reported 9,330 cases.

Kakani said, “We have seen under 10,000 cases per day for the past few days. However, in another week, the picture will become clearer about whether the cases will now begin to plateau, and the effect of the present restrictions in the city will begin to show.”