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Mumbai sees rise in Covid deaths
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has another cause for concern in the battle against Covid-19 this month – the rising fatality rate. On June 1, there
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has another cause for concern in the battle against Covid-19 this month – the rising fatality rate. On June 1, there were 3.2% deaths compared to the number of cases; the percentage rose to 3.5 on June 10, 3.6% on June 12 and 3.7% on June 14, 3.79% on June 15, according to data from the Maharashtra government.
On June 1, the number of cases in Mumbai was 41,099, with 1,319 deaths. On June 14, Mumbai had 58,226 cases and 2,182 deaths. On June 15, the city saw a total of 2,250 deaths with 59,293 cases.
“We are watching the rise in daily deaths and are studying the patterns and likely causes. There are multiple reasons why fatalities are on the rise,” said a member of the state government’s task force formed in April to curb Covid deaths.
BMC officials were unavailable for a comment.
Experts have attributed the rise to delay in reportage, especially in cases of co-morbidities; lack of bed and ambulance availability, which force patients to wait for hours, leading to loss of precious time. They said another factor is overcharging by private hospitals, despite the government cap, which discourages patients from approaching any available hospital.
On May 26, in a video conference, municipal commissioner IS Chahal said he aimed to bring down the deaths to 3% from then 3.2%. “We have managed to bring down Mumbai’s death rate to 3.2% from the high figure of more than 7% recorded in April. This happened due to targeted measures taken by the civic body. In a few days, the rate will drop further.”
Mumbai was successful in bringing down the numbers earlier, thanks to contact-tracing and early detection of high-risk co-morbid persons, shifting such persons to government facilities for observation, detecting elderly and co-morbid patients with low oxygen saturation, streamlining rules of dialysis, Chahal had said.
Madhav Sathe, retired professor of microbiology at Nair Hospital, said, “There are many reasons. Firstly, people do not have the confidence to report Covid-19 symptoms for reasons such as overcharging by private hospitals or the long wait in queues to get a bed, as reports have suggested so far. Second is lack of beds and ambulances. New treatment modalities – Remdesivir - an antiviral drug, and Tocilizumab - an immuno-modulant drug needs to be introduced urgently.”
