COVID-19: Mumbai's 70-day hard work to curb cases wiped out in 10 days flat

Despite members of the COVID-19 task force warning against a second wave, and asking Mumbaikars to take precaution, many have been seen roaming without masks on the street. Pics/Suresh Karkera

What Mumbai gained over the last two months, it has lost in the short span of 10 days. It took 70 days for the city to come down from 800 COVID-19 cases daily to 400. But, it reversed the process almost quickly this week, recording 897 cases on Saturday, the highest since November 29.

Other cities in the MMR region, like Thane (147), Navi Mumbai (116) and Kalyan-Dombivli (145) also reported a higher number of cases compared to earlier weeks. The mortality rate in Mumbai, however, continues to be stable, with three deaths reported on Saturday.

At its peak, in September last year, the city was witnessing an average of 2,000 COVID-19 cases daily. By November, when theatres and other public spaces were slowly opening up, the cases had halved. The numbers started dropping slowly in December, with Mumbai reporting around 750 cases daily in the first week, and 600 in the last week. The trend continued in January and by the last week, the average number of cases stood at 500. At the time, experts from the COVID-19 task force cautioned that it would take a long time for cases to decrease further, and even warned about a second wave.

It seems like their fears have finally come true, with the daily average slowly nearing the 1,000-mark. On February 8, a week after local trains had been opened to public, the city reported 375 cases. The very next day, cases jumped to 558. By February 14, daily cases rose to 645 - the same as a month ago, on January 8. On Friday, the cases hit 823, which was way higher than what was reported on December 4. "The social behaviour of the public is not appropriate to restrict the spread of the virus. Steps should be taken at the personal, community as well as government level," said Dr Rahul Pandit, an expert in the task force.

"It is a peculiar character of COVID-19 - the virus spreads with great speed," said Ajitkumar Ambi, assistant commissioner of N ward, consisting Ghatkopar, adding, "As per the order, we are now sealing buildings where more than five patients have been reported. We are also applying strict quarantine rules to restrict the speed of the virus."

The rest of the state, however, hasn't shown a significant spike, except for Amravati district, which registered 806 cases, taking the state's tally to 6,281. Of the 40 deaths reported in the state, six were from Amravati and five in Yavatmal. A lockdown was imposed in Amravati and the neighbouring Yavatmal district for the weekend, with restriction on various activities.

20,93,913
Total no. of cases in Maharashtra

3,18,207
Total no. of cases in Mumbai

897
Total new cases in Mumbai on Saturday

Reverse trend
February 12 599 January 14 607
February 14 645 January 8 654
February 17 721 January 6 795
February 19 823 December 4 813
February 20 897 November 29 940