The 1,000 per cent rise in daily cases is a cause of concern
Mumbai has recorded a 1,000 per cent increase in daily new COVID-19 cases since May 17, triggering fears of a possible fourth wave in India's financial capital.
On May 17, Mumbai recorded 158 daily cases while the total active caseload stood at 932. May 17 was also the last time active caseload remained below 1,000.
Since then, total active cases have breached the 10,000-mark for the first time in five months. It reached 10,047 on Saturday -- a 978% rise.
The city has added over 17,000 cases in its COVID-19 tally since May 17, with the doubling rate declining from 5,449 to 561 days on June 11. Doubling rate refers to the number of days it takes for the number of COVID-19 cases to double.
With 1,745 new cases on Saturday, Mumbai contributed nearly 59 per cent to the total daily Covid case tally of Maharashtra (2,922). Mumbai also accounted for 1/5th of the total daily Covid cases in India, as per the June 12 report.
According to government data, the city has been contributing 18 to 24 per cent to India's total daily cases since June 1.
The city has already geared up for a possible fourth wave, with the civic body Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) urging residents to wear a mask and follow all Covid safety rules. The civic body has put all labs and hospitals on alert and has ramped up testing.
Currently, over 90 per cent of Mumbai's cases are asymptomatic and hospitalisations remain low.
The 1,000 per cent rise in daily cases is a cause of concern as Mumbai has been a major Covid-affected city since 2020, recording COVID-19 numbers that are usually higher than rest of the country.
In January 2022, during the Omicron wave, the city registered more active Covid cases (91,000+) than the peak during the 2nd wave in 2021. Mumbai recorded over 20,000 Covid cases on January 6 this year, which was the highest daily tally since April 4, 2021, when it recorded 11,163 cases in a day.
Dr Samiran Panda, Additional Director General, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), in a recent interview to news agency ANI added that the current COVID-19 situation can't be called the start of the fourth wave.
"...We need to examine district-level data. High number of cases in few districts can't be considered as uniform increase in cases across India. Not every variant is variant of concern," he said.