Numbers indicate that COVID-19 cases increase swiftly as a wave intensifies but their descent is much slower
A ticket checker examines tickets of commuters at Borivli station on Friday. Cases in the city started increasing 10 days after the trains were opened for all on Feb 1. Pic/Satej Shinde
Mumbai is 2,500 cases away from the lowest point of active cases it achieved during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. There were 7,714 active cases on July 8, which is around what it was on February 23. The city had the lowest number of active cases on February 11 at 5,252.
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The lowest number of new cases on a single day was recorded on February 1 with 328 cases.
The active cases in the second wave intensified from 12,000 (March 11) to 92,000 (April 11) within a month, but it took more than two months for the numbers to come down to the previous level.
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Daily cases in the city seem to be declining with there being 540 new ones on Thursday. This is almost the same as February 10 (558 cases) after which cases started increasing amid the second wave.
“Though the active cases rose from 5,000 to 7,000 within a fortnight, it is difficult to tell when the city goes down to that number again. The process of declining cases is slow. But since the city hasn’t opened up fully yet, it will help in reducing cases,” said an official from the BMC.
The number of active cases today also resembles cases on January 3 when the city was opened up, shops were allowed to function on all days of the week, offices were open at 50 per cent capacity but the local trains were only allowed to women and malls were closed. Local train services had been opened for everyone on February 1, and the number of cases started increasing from February 10.
328
Lowest new cases recorded on Feb 1
The ebb and flow of active cases
February 11: 5,252 — lowest number of active patients after the first wave
March 11: 11,969
April 11: 92,464 — the maximum number of active patients in the second wave
May 11: 41,102
June 11: 15,819
July 8: 7,714