Mumbai to witness a huge spike in Coronavirus cases in coming weeks: Report

Mumbai, 22nd April: Coronavirus count in India’s financial capital Mumbai is expected to surge past 42,000 mark by April 30 and 6,50,000 mark by May 15, as per a five-member Central team’s report based on mathematical modelling for Mumbai by the Union Ministry of Health.

According to the data projections initially put together by the Union Health Ministry, Mumbai’s health infrastructure during this peak would have a staggering shortage of 13,636 ventilators and 4,83,000 isolation beds.

The worst affected areas will be Dharavi, Worli-Mahalaxmi, Matunga/Sion, Parel, Andheri West, Govandi-Mankhurd, Nagpada and Byculla. A total of 8,434 volunteers will be needed to tackle the outbreak in these areas, the report said.

The Maharashtra government however has challenged the methodology and tools used for the latest projection and gap analysis, making a detailed presentation of its own to the visiting Inter-Ministerial Central Teams (IMCTs), highlighting the “discrepancies” in the modelling.

“We are taking the projections with a pinch of salt even as we do not wish to discard them completely. The response of the State is now scaled up keeping in mind these numbers. Overall, the basis of using a Doubling Rate of 3.8 days has been questioned by us and not factoring in discharge patients and our methods of isolating high risk patients in the slums are not at all factored in while drawing these projections,” said a senior Maharashtra bureaucrat, as quoted by The Hindu.

Mumbai is currently the biggest epicentre of the deadly disease in the country with over 66% of total cases in Maharashtra reported in the city. The city has also contributed to 60% of the total deaths in the State.

As of 22nd April, Maharashtra has reported 5,218 Coronavirus positive cases with 251 deaths. Whereas Mumbai has reported 2,110 cases with 150 deaths.