Covid-19 Mumbai Update: Highest one-day fatality in 6 months; Third wave peak possibly gone, says Covid task force member

Covid-19 Mumbai News: Mumbai reported 10,661 new Covid-19 cases followed by 11 deaths — highest single-day toll in six months, on Saturday. Last year on July 29, the city reported 13 deaths after which mortality numbers started declining.
The fresh caseload in the country’s financial capital rose to 9,91,967 while the death toll touched 16,446. Mumbai reported 11,317 infections the other day and 16,420 new Covid-19 cases on Wednesday followed by 13,702 cases on Thursday indicating a steady decline. The daily cases in the financial capital also dropped from 43,211 (Friday) to 42,462 with 23 fatalities.

The peak has possibly gone: Dr Joshi

Dr Shashank Joshi, member of the state Covid-19 task force said Mumbai is nearing the peak of covid third wave and the peak is possibly gone. The cases are expected to drop further he stated and added that one should however wait for at least one week before making any official announcement.

The rising fatality rate however remains the biggest concern. Mumbai recorded nine deaths on Friday. It then increased to 11 within 24 hours on Saturday. This is happening when 90 per cent of the patients are mildly symptomatic or asymptomatic.

Out of total 47 deaths recorded between January 1-13, a total number of 42 were above the age of 60 years which sums up to 89 per cent.

Also Read: Covid-19 Omicron Variant Live Updates: India logs 2,71,202 new cases; active cases rise to 15,50,377 — highest in 225 days

Patients with comorbidities

While it is important for everyone to take viruses seriously, it is threefold important for those with comorbidities to keep themselves safe from the infection and thereby prevent themselves from hospitalisation. Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) data suggests that 38 or 80 per cent of the patients who succumbed to the infection had comorbidities that worsened the situation.

“We are in the transition phase where Omicron is yet to dominate over Delta variants. Considering Delta is more severe, we have to keep close watch on patients with comorbidities with the involvement of lungs,” Dr Joshi was quoted as saying to Indianexpress.com.

Vaccination is preventing serious illness

Additional chief secretary Maharashtra, in a letter sent by Dr Pradeep Vyas, stated that since November 1, 2021, a total number of 4,265 RT-PCR positive samples have been collected and sent for whole genome sequencing. Out of 4,201 results available, Omicron has been detected in at least 1,367 cases (32 per cent) while Delta variant of covid was found in 68 per cent which is way greater than Omicron.

Better vaccination is preventing serious illness in Covid-19 infections. So, above observations should be taken into consideration with proper perspective of circulating Delta variant and vaccination cover, the letter read.

Also Read: Covid-19 3rd wave: Doctors in Delhi, Mumbai say most Corona cases mild, don’t need oxygen support

As per Maharashtra’s official data, out of 2,40,133 active Covid cases, about 90.9 per cent of them were kept under home isolation and Covid Care Centers (CCC) since January 12. Only 1,783 cases (9.1 per cent) required hospitalisation and 16,175 (74.2 per cent) showed mild symptoms and 5,608 patients (2.3 per cent) were given ICU and oxygen support. Only 700 patients or 0.29 per cent patients required ventilator support.