Mumbai records 45% Covid-19 deaths in last nine days; here's what city doctors have to say

Mumbai has recorded 45 percent of C-19 deaths across Maharashtra in the last nine days. As per the data, 33 deaths took place between September 1 to 9, of which 15 are from Mumbai. Officials have raised concerns over regular deaths being reported in the city.

“Due to the acquired immunity from previous infections and vaccination, the severity of the infection is less. We have hardly witnessed deaths among younger groups. Patients especially the elderly with health issues like diabetes and hypertension are more vulnerable to losing their lives,” said Dr Avinash Supe, in charge of the Covid-19 Death Committee.

“We will occasionally see death numbers like this, which are still way less than what we saw in the earlier waves. So, it is still not alarming. Most of the fatalities include senior citizens and people with multiple comorbidities. I feel the daily Covid cases will come down in the next few days but we will continue to see deaths,” added Dr Supe.

Senior consultant for Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases at Nanavati Max Super Speciality Hospital, Dr Hemlata Arora said that managing the underlying condition effectively is the first step to prevent fatalities. She added that families and physicians should start treatment immediately if an elderly patient is infected with Covid or flu.

Dr Pradip Awate, State Surveillance Officer said that although the trend is hinting towards the plateauing of the curve, they might need two to three more weeks to confirm the epidemiological characteristic of the virus spread.

“Till now, the infection spread is limited to certain districts, mostly cities where the movement of population is higher. This recent surge was mostly dominated by the new variant of Omicron – BA.2.75 and BA.5 — but due to high vaccine coverage, the severity was low and the spread was contained, unlike the third wave,” said Dr Awate.

Dr Manjusha Agarwal, senior consultant for internal medicine at Global Hospital said in the last two years, it has been observed that senior citizens with co-morbidities are more likely to get secondary pneumonia, cardiac failure, and severe weakness due to Covid. The doctor said that vaccination with a booster dose is important for seniors.

Published on: Saturday, September 10, 2022, 08:07 PM IST