No Covid third wave in Mumbai yet, says BMC

BMC on Monday said it was not the beginning of the third wave in Mumbai and next 30 days are crucial

While the city has witnessed a spike in the number of cases in the past few days, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Monday said it was not the beginning of the third wave, but added that the next 30 days would be crucial. Civic officials said there might be a further spike a fortnight after the Ganesh festival, which begins on Friday.

BMC health worker conducts Covid test ahead of anticipated Covid third wave in Mumbai. (Anshuman Poyrekar/HT PHOTO)

The city has been reporting over 400 cases for nearly a week now, but the BMC has attributed the spike to relaxations given in the past one month. The BMC recently allowed shops to stay open till 10pm, opening of malls and restaurants etc. due to which there was a possibility of cases going up. Further, starting August 15, fully vaccinated citizens were also allowed to travel on suburban local trains.

Suresh Kakani, additional municipal commissioner, said, “We are closely monitoring the situation and are preparing to tackle the spike in the number of cases. However, the spike is not the third wave or start of the third wave. It will be very premature to say that now… The next 30 days are going to be crucial in terms of the spike. We are going to have people travel, mingle and socialise during the Ganesh festival and post that a spike is expected. It might be in the next 30 days or even by the end of September.”

Read: Maharashtra Covid-19 surge: Don’t hold gatherings, Uddhav Thackeray requests political parties

Further, the BMC has also decided to ramp up its testing, as the city has opened and is now reporting a spike. From testing around 30,000-35,000 samples daily in the first week of August, the city has increased testing to 40,000-45,000 in the first week of September. In the coming days, testing will increase further, said BMC officials. The BMC has also asked all hospitals in the city to be on alert and also started to work towards arranging oxygen cylinders, medicines and essential injections.

Dr Madhav Sathe, former microbiology professor at Nair hospital, said, “There has been a slight rise in Covid-19 cases in Mumbai and Thane for the past few days, but this was expected amid the increase in travelling. In the backdrop of Ganesh festival, there has been a significant rush in markets and a lot of people are going to their native places, as many could not go last year due to the travel ban. We will not witness the third wave and if it does come, it will not be severe due to vaccination that has taken place so far. We still need to take safety precautions.”

On Monday, the city reported 383 cases and five deaths, taking the case tally to 746,724 and toll to 15,998. There were 724,011 recoveries in the city with 96% recovery rate. The city’s mortality rate is 2.14% and there are 4,273 active cases in the city.

Meanwhile, HT had reported on Sunday that there has been a 20% spike in Covid-19 infections in the past seven days, compared to the previous week. According to the data, between August 21 and 27, 1,893 Covid-19 cases and 22 deaths were reported in the city that took the tally to 742,763 from 740,870. Between August 28 and September 3, 2,279 cases and 15 deaths were reported in the city, owing to which the tally surged from 743,154 to 745,433 and toll increased to 15,987. However, although the cases surged, the number of deaths has gone down in the city.

Dr Sonam Solanki, consultant pulmonologist and bronchoscopist, Masina Hospital, said, “It is no surprise that we are seeing an increase in the number of Covid cases right now. India is catching up with the global trend in countries that are few months ahead of us in the pandemic. Currently, due to the relaxation of lockdown restrictions, public spaces such as malls, restaurants and mass gatherings have opened up, leading to the rise.”