Mumbai's Covid Cases Might Breach Second Wave Peak Today, Start Slowing Down in 10 Days, Say Experts

Mumbai’s coronavirus cases in the current Omicron wave could peak in the next 10 days, while deaths, which will be around half the 5,232 fatalities in the second wave, could be the highest in February first week, according to researchers from Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. “We should see peak cases in January 6-13,” professor Sandeep Juneja was quoted by Times of India as saying.

Meanwhile, the city will likely cross the second wake peak of 11,206 cases in the next 24 hours, as per a TOI report. Mumbai added 10,606 new cases, a steep rise from 7,928 infections recorded the day before, and two more deaths, according to the state health bulletin. It took 50 days for the city to breach the peak in second wave, and might only take 15 days now.

As cases spiked in Mumbai, city Mayor Kishori Pednekar on Tuesday said if the daily infections cross the 20,000-mark, a lockdown will be imposed in the city as per the Union government’s rules.

The government is reportedly mulling allowing restaurants and malls to stay open till 8pm and closing places of worship as there is a slack in maintaining social distancing in crowded areas. “We will take a complete review. The Central government has also reduced attendance in its offices to 50%. All these measures will be discussed and sent to the CM for finalising,” Ajit Pawar said.

Health Minister Rajesh Tope, however, ruled out possibilities of lockdown. He said that parameters for imposing a lockdown – hospitalisations, oxygen requirements, ICU beds – are nowhere close to the threshold. Tope cautioned that stricter restrictions might be brought in.

Daily COVID hospitalisations in the city went up by 45% on Tuesday as compared to Monday. There were 834 hospitalisations, while on Monday there were 574, and the day prior, 503. BMC officer Suresh Kakani said that people with comorbidities, or the eldery, prefer to get hospitalised for better results. “But duration of hospital stay is between 3-4 days. Most are symptoms-free by then and want to go home,” he said. The state’s active caseload is 66,308 and the number of Omicron cases detected is 653.

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