Covid-19 fourth wave? Mumbai and neighbouring cities top state coronavirus count

Mumbai on Wednesday reported 2,293 new COVID-19 cases, up by 569 from a day ago and the highest daily count registered since January 23, while one patient succumbed to the infection during the day, the BMC said. Of the 4,024 fresh infections recorded across the state, most cases were from the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, which includes Thane and Palghar. The city's test positivity rate stood at 13.7 per cent.

A report by the state health department said the test positivity rate or TPR has doubled in the past 14 days in Mumbai, Palghar, and Thane, while it rose 100 per cent in just seven days. Experts have stressed the need for aggressive testing and more genome sequencing, though they are sceptical about whether this surge become a wave.

Rajesh Tope, health minister

On June 1, the TPR in Mumbai was 9.03 per cent, Palghar 4.75, and Thane 3.22. It became 17.4 per cent for Mumbai on January 14, while the figure in Palghar and Thane stood at 11.43 and 9.24 per cent, respectively. Similarly, Pune's TPR has gone up from 4 per cent to 8 per cent in the past two weeks.

On Wednesday, the state reported 4,024 new cases, the highest since February 12. Of these, 3,528 cases or nearly 88 per cent, were from MMR. Apart from this, 3 more patients from MMR were found to be infected with Omicron's BA.5 variant. Of the 4 such cases, the other patient is from Pune.

A swab sample being collected, at Nair hospital on June 7. Pic/Ashish Raje

In the state, there are 19,261 active cases of which 17,154 are from MMR.

On Wednesday, 2 deaths were reported in the state - patients were from Mumbai and Thane.

State's surveillance officer Dr Pradeep Awte said, "No doubt Mumbai and other districts close to the city are reporting most of the cases.

When we talk about the weekly positivity rate of MMR, it is between 7 to 10 per cent. As per the genome sequencing report, in the 75 per cent sample, Omicron's BA.2 and BA.2.38 are found. That could be the reason for the surge as the transmission is fast. We are following the government guidelines of doing more and more testing and sending samples for genome sequencing. People need to follow Covid-appropriate behaviour. Masking, sanitizing, and avoiding crowds is a must."

State Covid taskforce member Dr Kedar Toraskar said, "We have seen in the past few days more testing has been done in MMR as compared to other districts so there is a rise in cases. The numbers are increasing no one can exactly tell how much it will increase. More testing and genome sequencing need to be done, it is going to help us."

79,19,442 Total No. of cases in maharashtra
3,528 Total no. of cases reported in MMR in the last 24 hours
1 No. of deaths in city on wednesday
1,764 patients Recovered and discharged in city on wednesday