Even amid the Omicron fear and its sub-lineages, Mumbai has been witnessing a steady drop in active cases. As per the statistics, between September 1-18, there has been around a 71 per cent and 54 per cent drop in active cases across Mumbai and Maharashtra. Civic officials said they had kept a close vigil on COVID-19 cases, especially considering there will be a surge in cases in the next two weeks after the festive season.
Active cases are the total number of patients who are currently receiving treatment in hospitals and Covid care centres or are home quarantined.
According to the data, there were 4,540 active cases until September 18 across Maharashtra compared to 9,887 which was until September 1. Similarly, Mumbai had 3,691 active cases which dropped to 1,071 during the same period.
Dr Umang Agrawal, Infectious Diseases Consultant said, “The current number of active cases in Covid are indeed reducing and it’s just the natural history of the Covid wave. Initially, it rises, it reaches a plateau and then it starts reducing. Fortunately, in this wave we did not have a lot of numbers nor did we have a lot of severe cases. It just came and went by.”
Meanwhile, the daily positivity rate of infections is under two per cent and doubling days have crossed the 4000-mark.
A senior health official who has been treating patients at a civic-run hospital said the load of active cases has reduced despite huge public movement for festival celebrations, travel, and visits to temples. However, the impact of the Ganesh festival is yet to be seen. “It implies that fewer new cases are coming and more people are recovering. There was a time when the number of active cases had gone up to 97,000. We have done great in getting the active cases from that to 1,700-1,800 now,” he said. Meanwhile, several factors had led to the drop in the active Covid cases in Mumbai and vaccination has played an important role.
Member of the national Covid task force and director (critical care) of Fortis Hospitals, Dr Rahul Pandit said most of the patients whose immune systems are weak are more vulnerable to Covid and those who also have comorbidity and formulate the population which is above 50-60 years of age.
“Senior citizens need to take extra care as they are more prone to contract covid-19 infections. Moreover, they should not delay their treatment if they show any symptoms similar to Covid. We need to protect them from the ongoing pandemic,” he said.
However, health experts have urged citizens to adhere to Covid norms despite this drop in the daily caseload, as the virus is still around in the community and people are continuing to contract the infection. “We need to follow Covid norms and wear masks as there is community spread of the virus and we continue to get patients infected with Omicron and its sub-lineages variants. Importantly, people who are partially vaccinated should get vaccinated as soon as their dates are near,” said a doctor from a civic-run hospital.
