Covid-19 cases in Mumbai rises by 50% in 5 days, is this the fourth wave?

Covid-19 cases are on a rise in Maharashtra. More than 1,000 new cases were registered in the state for the second consecutive day, on Monday, with 1036 cases. If we look at the average of the last seven days, then this is the highest after February 26. The positivity rate is also 4.25%, which is the maximum after February 13.

In view of the rising cases, the Maharashtra government, led by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray held high-level meeting on Monday to review the situation. Rajesh Tope, after the meeting said that this increase in cases is mainly due to Omicron’s BA.4 and BA.5 variants, which are extremely contagious. 

Read | Bengaluru makes mask mandatory after Covid surge, 5 key updates

At present, no new restrictions or a revival of the mandatory masking rule has been put into force as there is no significant increase in hospitalisations just yet. State Health Minister Rajesh Tope has said that there is no need to worry much as the severity of the virus is not high and the hospitalisation rate among patients is very low. 

Citizens are, however, encouraged to wear masks specially in public transportation and other sites of crowding. The rate of hospitalisation of Covid patients is very low in the entire Maharashtra and Mumbai. According to the available data, only 1% of the positive patients are facing the danger of being admitted to the hospital.

There are 24,579 beds in Mumbai, out of which only 185, which is 0.74% were filled on Monday. Out of 4768 beds with oxygen facility, only 14, that is 0.29% had patients. Rajesh Tope said that 676 new cases were found in Mumbai on Monday. 

From the last week of May, 60-70 percent of the total cases in the state are being found in Mumbai itself. In the cabinet meeting, the Health Minister told that in the last seven days, Mumbai (67.287%), Thane (17.17%), Pune (7.42%), Raigad (3.36%) and Palghar (2%) percent cases were found.

Are the rising cases a sign of the fourth wave of Covid-19?

On this, experts believe that most of the people in India have become immune due to the BA.2 variant of Omicron, which is still making people infected. Apart from this, the spread of Omicron virus is definitely more, but the condition of its patients becomes less serious. 

The main reason doctors are not worried about the fourth wave right now is that the Covid variant in circulation is still Omicron. Experts are of the opinion that it is too early to say whether this should be considered as the fourth wave of the pandemic or not. Unless there is a new variant, the chances of a new wave is very less, they say.