Doctors said that with the surge in seasonal infections and influenza, the testing of the suspected patients has also increased, which has improved the detection of asymptomatic patients.(Representative-File)AFTER WITNESSING the flattening of the Covid-19 pandemic curve for nearly a month for the last four days, Mumbai is witnessing a sudden surge in the number of infections with the city registering 446 cases on Friday, which is the highest single-day count recorded in the past 18 days.
In the past two weeks, the average daily Covid-19 cases were hovering around 200 in Mumbai. But since August 2, when the city reported 329 cases, the numbers are witnessing an upward spiral. The next day, the cases further climbed to 434 cases and one death was also reported. On August 4, the cases saw a slight dip with 410 infections and two deaths. On Friday, the daily caseload again surged to 446.
The sudden spike drove the active Covid cases in the city to 2,391 on August 5 from 1,955 recorded on August 2.
Health officials attributed the rise in cases as a result of people not following Covid-appropriate behaviours like wearing masks and avoiding crowded places.
“It is the epidemiological characteristics of the virus. But there is nothing to worry about as this is a minor blip in the endemic graph,” said Dr Pradeep Awate, state surveillance officer. “We will have to monitor the infection pattern for the next seven days.”
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Doctors said that with the surge in seasonal infections and influenza, the testing of the suspected patients has also increased, which has improved the detection of asymptomatic patients.
Dr Gautam Bhansali, a member of the Covid-19 task force, said that many of the MumCovid patients are being detected while undergoing treatment for non-Covid seasonal viral infections. “As mosquito-borne, seasonal infections and Covid-19 have similar symptoms like fever, body ache, and cough among others, we have to run all diagnostic tests… All these are contributing to the surge in new Covid cases in the city,” he said.
The state on Friday recorded 2,024 Covid-19 cases and five deaths linked to the infection, which took the tally to 80,55,989 and the toll to 1,48,129, a health department official said. On Thursday, the state recorded 1,862 and seven fatalities.
The five deaths comprised two each in Mumbai and Pune and one in Akola, the official said. The recovery count increased by 2,190 in the last 24 hours to touch 78,95,954, leaving the state with an active caseload of 11,906, the official said. State health department data showed the fatality rate was 1.83 per cent and the recovery rate was 98.01 per cent.
(With inputs from PTI)
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First published on: 06-08-2022 at 01:09:13 am