People wearing protective face masks wait in queues to buy train tickets at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus railway station in Mumbai, India. (Image: Reuters)

Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal has denied that there is a second wave of coronavirus infection in Mumbai as COVID-19 cases spike in the city.

“I would describe the current increase in COVID-19 cases a surge, not a second wave,” Chahal told CNBC-TV18.

Explaining the COVID-19 situation in the financial capital, Chahal said the coronavirus load has gone down in the slums. The additional load is coming from rich, super-rich and middle-class residential areas, he told the news channel.

Around 100 to 200 COVID-19 cases can be attributed to the mega rush in the local trains, he said. The local train services in Mumbai were recently opened for the general public at specific time slots.

Talking about the cases of the new strain of coronavirus, Chahal said that it is producing 85 percent of asymptomatic patients. Only 108 out of 750 COVID-19 cases, reported yesterday, needed hospitalisation, he said.

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

Show

No second wave of coronavirus infection in Mumbai, no plans of lockdown: BMC Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal

Around 100 to 200 COVID-19 cases can be attributed to the mega rush in the local trains, said BMC Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal.

People wearing protective face masks wait in queues to buy train tickets at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus railway station in Mumbai, India. (Image: Reuters)

Related stories