With 2,366 new Covid-19 infections on Thursday, the city saw more than a fourfold rise in active cases since the beginning of this month. The current active count stands at 13,005 against 2,970 on June 1.
A report from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has said that on an average, 96% of patients detected every day are asymptomatic.
Thursday was the second consecutive day when the fresh cases crossed 2,000. Two more patients – two males aged 40 and 85 – succumbed to the virus, taking the death toll this month to 12.
Meanwhile, the number of patients hospitalised in the city went up to 538 on Thursday from 102 on June 1.
Dr Vasant Nagvekar, infectious disease expert and a state Covid-19 task force member, said though the daily percentage of hospitalisation is below five, people should stay alert. “The cases are mild and the majority of them are recovering on their own. But the surge in new infections can only be attributed to people not following Covid-19 appropriate behaviour like social distance, masks, hand hygiene etc.”
Sevenhills Hospital, one of the major Covid-19 facilities run by the BMC, has been seeing a spike in admission of patients for the last few days.
“We have 250 Covid-19 patients at present of whom 37 are in the intensive care unit and six are on oxygen support. Those critical-care patients have been transferred from peripheral or private hospitals where they were admitted for some other treatment and tested positive. None of them are direct admissions for Covid-19 like we had in the earlier waves,” Dr Balkrishna Adsul, dean of the hospital, said.
Dr Subhash Salunkhe, epidemiologist and member of the national Covid task force, said it is unfortunate to see people not following the safety measures.
“It has been two years since the pandemic broke out, and we have seen the benefits of keeping masks on. The number of cases has increased along with hospitalisations but people are not bothered. It is a matter of concern. If the cases continue to rise at this rate and people do not cooperate, the government may be forced to bring back restrictions,” he said.
Talking about the new Omicron sub-variants – BA 2.12.1, BA.5, and BA.4 – Dr Salunkhe said there is nothing unusual in them. “We will see more of the sub-variants. The virus keeps mutating. Fortunately, the sub-variants are not virulent but the transmission rate is high.”
Dr Salunkhe emphasised the need to take the booster dose and vaccinate children. “We need to step up awareness of the benefits of vaccination. It has definitely helped in protecting from the severity of the illness.”