With 577 cases, Mumbai reports highest numbers in 77 days

Mumbai The city reported 577 Covid cases on Thursday, the highest in around 77 days.

On October 6, 624 cases were reported in the city. With this, the daily positivity rate has touched the 1.46%-mark. Though the daily positivity rate in the city has marginally increased, the data reveals that there is no significant increase in the bed occupancy rate or hospitalisation. There is only a slight increase when it comes to the occupancy rate of ventilators.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has maintained that the situation is under control and there is no reason to panic but need to remain vigilant.

The new cases on Thursday took the toll to 768,610. The city also reported one death, pushing the toll to 16,367. The recovery rate is 97% with 746,872 recoveries and the mortality rate is at 2.12%, according to the state health department.

The number of daily tests in the city has slightly gone up in the second half of December, with around 40,000 to 50,000 tests being conducted daily. However, with this, the daily positivity rate has also gone up.

For example, the daily positivity rate on December 1 was 0.28%, on December 15 it was 0.54% followed by 1.08% on December 22 and 1.46% on December 23. In the same period, the number of active patients also rose marginally from around 1,900 active cases on December 1 to 2,159 on December 21.

Despite these factors, there has been no significant rise or fall in the bed occupancy rate, according to BMC data. As per the data, last week the overall bed occupancy rate was 6.37% that has gone up to 6.70%, as of Wednesday.

Further, when it comes to ICU beds and oxygen beds, the occupancy rate last week was 12% and 5% respectively, has remained the same on Wednesday. However, the occupancy rate in the case of ventilators has slightly gone up from 13.37% last week to 14.42%, as of Wednesday.

The data of BMC further reveals that the age group of 20 to 49 years continues to remain the maximum affected. In nearly the last one week, a maximum of 698 cases were reported in the age group of 20-49.

In the context of the most impacted age group, Dr Paritosh Baghel of SL Raheja Hospital in Mahim said, “Hospitalisation is across a mixed age group, mainly middle-aged people.”

Further, doctors from private hospitals in the city claim that the maximum caseload is from among those individuals who are unvaccinated or not fully vaccinated.

Dr Trupti Gilada, infectious disease specialist, Masina Hospital, Mumbai said, “The marginal rise in Covid cases has not reflected in the hospitals yet. The hospitalisations usually increase two to three weeks into the onset of a surge and the next few weeks will be critical.”

Another doctor from a private hospital in the city said the same thing. Dr Rahul Pandit of Fortis Hospitals who is also a member of Maharashtra’s Covid taskforce, said, “Currently, the hospitalisation rate in patients who are testing positive is extremely low. It will be a couple of weeks before we can see a change in hospitalisation patterns, if at all.”