Mumbai records over 500 Covid cases first time in 7 weeks

Mumbai recorded over 500 Covid cases on Wednesday, first time in 7 weeks. The number has been steadily rising, making it a cause for concern for authorities.

Even as the state’s daily Covid-19 caseload continues to hover around 4,200 for the past few weeks, Mumbai’s figures have been steadily increasing, making it a cause for concern for authorities. Although authorities clarified that curbs would not be re-imposed immediately, local authorities have been directed to take due precautions to avoid crowding during Ganeshotsav.

With Mumbai recording over 500 cases first time in 7 weeks, local authorities have been directed to take due precautions to avoid crowding during Ganeshotsav. (HT PHOTO)

Maharashtra reported 4,174 new infections, taking its tally to 6,497,872, while Mumbai, for the first time in seven weeks (since July 15), crossed the 500-cases mark. The city on Wednesday reported 532 new cases. The Covid-19 case tally has now gone up to 747,605, while Mumbai also reported four deaths due to Covid-19, taking the toll to 16,004.

Over the past two weeks, the number of Covid-19 cases in the city has been steadily increasing. Mumbai reported less than 300 cases per day until the last two weeks of August, which increased to over 300 cases since. There are 4,273 active cases in the city.

The tally of active cases slightly reduced to 47,880 as 4,155 recoveries were reported in the last 24 hours. It also saw 65 casualties and the total number of fatalities stood at 137,962. Ahmednagar reported the highest toll with 12 deaths. It was followed by Raigad with 11 fatalities.

State again registered highest one-day inoculation on Wednesday by administering 1,455,749 doses till 9pm, taking the tally of doses administered to 65,520,560. Though the state stands second in total doses given, it tops chart of fully vaccinated citizens in the county. A total of 17,978,805 citizens in the state have got both their doses, while 47,541,755 people have been inoculated with their first dose.

“The health machinery of the state is making all the efforts to make our vaccination drive against Covid-19 pandemic successful and setting records as well. On September 4, we vaccinated 1,227,224 people and on August 21, 1,104,465 doses were vaccinated,” said Dr Pradeep Vyas, additional chief secretary, health department.

Amid the threat of crowding during Ganeshotsav, government banned physical “darshan” of Ganesh idols at pandals during the ten-day Ganeshotsav festival starting from September 10. An order issued by the home department has stated, “Darshan shall be made available online by the organisors.”

“The decision was taken considering the rise in daily cases in Mumbai and other areas. We all know that lakhs of devotees visit community mandaps for physical darshan of Ganesh, which ultimately will result in crowding. We are not in a position to take any sort of risk, when a threat of a potential third wave is looming large on us,” said a senior health official, wishing not to be named.

State, however, is unlikely to re-impose curbs anytime soon as the authorities feel, that there is no rise in cases in the state, barring a few exceptions.

Dr Vyas, made a presentation before the state cabinet on the Covid situation. “He (Dr Pradeep Vyas) informed us that though there is no rise in daily cases, but our testing has been reduced significantly. Earlier, the state used to conduct over two million tests a day, which has been reduced to around 1.7 million a day. It also means that the active cases may be more than what we are seeing today,” said a senior minister, requesting anonymity.

There are five districts, including Mumbai whereas rise in Covid-19 cases has been experienced and most cases are coming from these areas only. In the 10 days (between August 29 and September 9), the state has reported 41,425 cases, of them 28,373 (68.49%) cases comes from Pune (9,062 cases), Ahmednagar (7,544 cases), Satara (4,261 cases), Mumbai (3,919 cases) and Solapur (3,587 cases), according to a presentation prepared by the state health department.

Going by the prediction made by experts, the state government is expecting a rise in Covid-19 cases between September 15 and the first week of October, which could also be the beginning of the third wave. In the last 24 hours, the state tested 179,408 samples and had a positivity rate of 2.32%. However, the overall positivity rate of the state stood at 11.74%, according to the data issued by the state health department.

Mumbai Congress chief Bhai Jagtap has demanded for the opening up of film and drama theatres and swimming pools at the earliest as these sectors and the workforce dependent on them are suffering hardships. Jagtap said the entertainment industry has suffered losses of Rs4,800 crore in the last 18 months because of the lockdown. He has also demanded to resume 23 BEST routes, which have been discontinued from September1.

(With inputs from Eeshanpriya MS)