Navi Mumbai Covid-19 cases up; officials blame airport rally, unlock

Protesters demanding the naming of the Navi Mumbai International Airport after Dinkar Balu Patil in Belapur, Navi Mumbai on June 24. Pic/Pradeep Dhivar

After some respite brought on by reducing active Covid-19 cases, the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) is again seeing rising cases in its city for the past 10 days. Daily cases have gone up and so has the number of active cases. Civic authorities blamed the rise on unlocking and the agitation over the naming of the Navi Mumbai International Airport.

The second wave in the NMMC's jurisdiction has been receding, with active cases having come down from 11,605 on April 11 to 1,113 on June 16. However, since a fortnight, the trend has reversed significantly. Daily cases, which had gone below 100 and remained in the range of 60, have increased to over 100.

"According to the data, the cases are definitely rising, and the trend is observed in all areas," said an NMMC official. "We are focusing on targeted RT-PCR testing to keep track of the infection and are trying to locate hotspots," the official added.

In the beginning of June, the state government had allowed municipal corporations and districts to relax Covid-19 restrictions based on the positivity rate and vacant oxygen beds. Since Day 1 of the relaxations, the NMMC was opened at Level 2, allowing the functioning of all establishments including malls and theatres, too. But with the emergence of the Delta Plus variant, rules were changed and shops and other establishments got permission to function only till 4 pm, coupled with the shutting of non-essential shops on weekends. Meanwhile, a massive protest rally was organised in Navi Mumbai to demand the naming of the Navi Mumbai International Airport after DiBa Patil. More than 40,000 people from Navi Mumbai, Thane, Palghar, Nashik and Raigad rallied in Belapur in Navi Mumbai on June 24. Civic authorities and experts had raised red flags against the rally, warning it could be a super spreader.

"Active cases are going down everywhere except in Navi Mumbai. This means something has gone wrong. This could be because of unlocking, reduced fear of Covid-19, a false sense of confidence due to vaccination. The rally, which happened 10 days ago, can definitely be a big reason too," said another official.

NMMC Commissioner Abhijit Bangar said, "We are closely monitoring the situation. The rise which we are observing now is due to targeted testing at many places. The reason behind this is a sense of fearlessness among people. We haven't observed any impact of the airport agitation till now. We are starting testing at city's gaothans to know the spread from tomorrow."

1,369
Active cases in Navi Mumbai on June 24 (when rally took place)

1,699
No. of active cases in Navi Mumbai on July 4