Mumbai witnessing community transmission of Omicron? Variant found in 248 out of 280 samples tested

Mumbai on Monday reported under-2,000 new coronavirus cases at 1,857, down by 693 from the previous day and the lowest daily count in nearly a month, while 11 more patients died.
Students wearing masks attend classes at a school in Dharavi, one of Asia's largest slums,Mumbai, India, Monday, Jan. 24, 2022. (Photo | AP)
Students wearing masks attend classes at a school in Dharavi, one of Asia's largest slums,Mumbai, India, Monday, Jan. 24, 2022. (Photo | AP)

MUMBAI: The civic body in Mumbai on Monday said 248 of the 280 samples sent for genome testing have been detected with the Omicron variant of coronavirus, an official said.

This was the eighth batch of samples, comprising 280 from civic limits and 93 from outside, that had been sent to check for the presence of Omicron, he said, adding that 21 samples had the Delta derivative and 11 samples were found with other variants of coronavirus.

As per the release, of the 280 samples from BMC limits, 96 or 34 per cent were of patients in the 21-40 age group, 79 or 28 per cent were in the 41-60 age group, 69 in the 61-80 age segment, 22 in the 0-20 segment and 14 or five per cent in the 81-plus bracket.

"Of these, 13 samples were of patients in the 0-18 age bracket, including two who were less than five years old. Four were in the 6-12 age group, and seven in the 13-18 age bracket. A total of 174 out of 280 patients were fully vaccinated, seven had taken the first dose and 99 were unvaccinated," an official said.

Of the seven who had taken only one dose, six had to be hospitalized, including two in the Intensive Care Unit, while 89 of 174 patients who were fully vaccinated had to be admitted in hospital.

"A total of 76 of 99 unvaccinated patients had to be hospitalized, 12 required oxygen and five were in the ICU," he said.

Genome sequencing helps in understanding the difference between two variants of the same virus and makes treatment more effective. the official added.

Mumbai on Monday reported under-2,000 new coronavirus cases at 1,857, down by 693 from the previous day and the lowest daily count in nearly a month, while 11 more patients succumbed to the infection, the city civic body said.

A Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) bulletin said that with these new additions, the city's COVID-19 tally rose to 10,36,690, while the death toll jumped to 16,546.

This was the sixth day in a row when the daily COVID-19 cases have witnessed a drop in the financial capital.

On Sunday, 2,550 COVID-19 cases and 13 deaths were reported in the city.

Also, for the first time since December 28, 2021, the daily cases have dipped below the 2,000-mark.

On December 29, the city had logged 2,510 COVID-19 cases, while 1,377 cases were reported on the previous day.

In the last 24 hours, 34,301 COVID-19 tests were carried out in the city, taking the tally to 1,50,11,519, the bulletin said.

As many as 45,993 tests were conducted on Sunday, it said.

With 503 more patients discharged in the last 24 hours, the number of recovered cases rose to 9,96,289, the civic body said.

Presently, Mumbai has 21,142 active COVID-19 cases and a positivity rate of 0.05 per cent (positive cases per 100 tests), as per the bulletin.

The positivity rate was around 10 per cent last Friday.

Mumbai's coronavirus recovery is 97 per cent, it said.

The case doubling rate has improved to 144 days, while the growth rate of COVID-19 between January 17 and 23 stood at 0.47 per cent, the civic body said.

As per the bulletin, 1,560 out of the 1,857 new patients - or around 84 per cent of the total - were asymptomatic In the last 24 hours, only 420 patients were hospitalised and 88 put on oxygen support, the BMC said.

Also, only 3,855 of the total 37,742 hospital beds earmarked for coronavirus patients were occupied in the city, according to the bulletin.

Presently, 27 buildings in the city are sealed, but it doesn't have any containment zone in slums and 'chawls' (old row tenements), it added.

Mumbai had logged 20,971 daily COVID-19 cases on January 7, 2022, the highest since the pandemic broke out in March 2020.

Last year, Mumbai had reported the highest one-day cases at 11,163 on April 4 during the second wave of the pandemic.

Maharashtra on Monday recorded 28,286 coronavirus cases, 12,519 less than the previous day, and 36 fresh deaths, including 17 in the Mumbai region, linked to the infection, the state health department said.

On Sunday, the state had recorded 40,805 new cases and 44 fatalities.

With the latest additions, the overall tally of COVID-19 cases in Maharashtra surged to 75,35,511 and the death toll jumped to 1,42,151, a department bulletin said.

Of the 36 fatalities, the Mumbai region reported 17 deaths followed by eight in Pune, five in Kolhapur, four in Latur, and two in Nashik region.

Nagpur region, Akola region and Aurangabad region did not report any fresh death due to COVID-19.

Maharashtra's case fatality rate now stands at 1.88 per cent.

The recovery rate is 94.09 per cent.

As per the bulletin, the number of recovered cases in Maharashtra increased to 70,89,936 after 21,941 patients were discharged during the day, leaving the state with 2,99,604 active cases.

Also, 86 new cases of the highly contagious Omicron variant of coronavirus came to light during the day, raising the tally of such infections in Maharashtra to 2,845, the department said.

It said 1,454 Omicron patients have already recovered.

Of the 86 new Omicron cases, 47 are from Nagpur, 28 from Pune city, three from Pimpri-Chinchwad and two from Wardha, among others.

Currently, 14,35,141 people are in home quarantine i Maharashtra and 3,402 people are in institutional quarantine.

With 1,41,949 tests conducted in the last 24 hours, the number of samples tested so far in Maharashtra rose to 7,35,11,861.

The Pune region recorded the highest 9,165 new cases, followed by Nagpur region (4,845), Mumbai region (4,773), Nashik region (3,401 cases), Aurangabad region (1,991), Latur (1,454), Akola region (1,335 cases) and the Kolhapur region (1,322), the department said.

Coronavirus figures of Maharashtra are as follows: Positive cases 75,35,511; fresh cases 28,286; death toll 14,2151; recoveries 70,89,936; active cases 2,99,604 , total tests 7,35,11,861.

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