Mumbai sees 11 new Covid-19 cases daily, May numbers surge past 340
Health experts urge caution, not panic, stressing that the virus is now endemic and should be managed with rational testing, timely care and continued protection of vulnerable groups.
Since January, Mumbai has reported a total of 352 cases, most of them emerging this month. On May 28 alone, Mumbai logged 36 new cases, underscoring a seasonal surge.
'This reflects the virus's persistent presence and our need to adapt to its changing behaviour,' said a senior epidemiologist with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). 'COVID has not gone—it's just quieter and more selective.'
Across Maharashtra, 521 cases have been reported between January 1 and May 28, a state-wide daily average of 3.5 cases. Thane has also seen a steady increase, with 12 new infections on May 28, bringing its active caseload to 72. Of these, 16 patients have been hospitalised, 45 are recovering in home isolation, and 10 have recovered. One death linked to comorbidities has been recorded during this period. 'The clinical picture remains mild in the vast majority of cases,' according to an official with the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC). 'We are ensuring timely diagnosis and isolation.'
In terms of testing, Maharashtra conducted 8,868 Covid-19 tests in this five-month period, with a positivity rate of 5.87%. Besides Mumbai and Thane, new cases on May 28 were reported from Pune (9), Navi Mumbai (4), Panvel (4), Pimpri-Chinchwad (3), Kalyan (2), Ahmednagar (2), and one case each from Raigad and Nagpur.
The state's active case count stands at 383, with 132 recoveries documented since January. Despite the uptick, health authorities are not alarmed. Hospital admissions remain limited, and most patients are recovering within three to four days.
'There is no significant lung involvement or oxygen requirement in these patients,' said Dr Rajeev Jayadevan, co-chair of the National IMA COVID Task Force. 'Symptoms are predominantly mild—fever, sore throat, body ache, fatigue. Most people don't require antivirals or even clinical intervention beyond supportive care.'
Maharashtra has reported six Covid-positive deaths in 2025, so far, averaging one death approximately every 24 days. All six individuals had serious underlying conditions. 'In these cases, Covid was a precipitating factor, not the primary cause of death,' explained an infectious disease specialist at a Mumbai tertiary hospital.
The Indian Medical Association (IMA) has issued an advisory, urging citizens to remain vigilant without resorting to panic. 'Covid is now endemic. It flares when immunity wanes or when a new variant circulates,' said Dr Jayadevan. 'What we need is rational testing, symptom-guided treatment, and continued focus on protecting at-risk populations.' He also warned against the misuse of antibiotics. 'This is a viral illness—antibiotics are ineffective and only worsen antimicrobial resistance,' he said.
With the monsoon approaching and the likelihood of a seasonal increase in respiratory illnesses, health experts are advising the public to wear masks in crowded places, avoid self-medication, and seek timely medical consultation if symptoms persist. 'We've learnt how to live with this virus,' said a senior health official. 'It still targets the vulnerable, but we are no longer powerless—preparedness, not panic, is what matters now.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
2 hours ago
- Time of India
How Goa managed to tame rabies: Inside state's drive that vaccinated 63,000 dogs in 30 days
PANAJI: Since Sept 2017, Goa has largely eliminated human rabies cases, earning a 'rabies-controlled' status in 2021 after three consecutive years without a single death from the virus. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now The streak was broken by one case in 2023, but there were no fatalities in 2024 and none so far this year. 'Even if a single stray dog misses vaccination and sterilisation, it can lead to a litter of eight or nine puppies that are at risk,' said Nilkanth Harlankar, the state's minister for animal husbandry and veterinary services. The story began in 2014 when the threat of rabies in Goa was all too real: 17 people succumbed to the virus that year. There was no reliable data on the dog population — stray or pet — nor any formal record of dog mortality. Then came Mission Rabies, a fledgling NGO with a pilot surveillance project that uncovered a grim truth: of the 45 suspected animal cases they investigated, 39 tested positive for rabies. Instead of being daunted, they doubled down, aiming to vaccinate 50,000 dogs in just 30 days. By the end of the month, over 500 vets from 16 different countries joined forces with local teams and managed to exceed the target: they vaccinated 63,000 dogs. This momentum translated into policy the very next year. In 2015, the thenCM Manohar Parrikar signed an MoU with Mission Rabies, launching a full-fledged vaccination and sterilisation drive across the state. Following this, Goa had 24-hour rabies surveillance, an emergency hotline, rapid response teams, and field volunteers fanning out to every taluka, vaccinating and sterilising dogs, and assisting bite victims. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now From Sept 2017, human rabies cases in Goa virtually disappeared. But the Covid-19 lockdown brought fresh challenges. As tourism halted and markets closed, hungry stray dogs from neighbouring states wandered into Goa. Mission Rabies suspects this migration led to a spike in animal cases in border talukas. Goa's borders with Maharashtra and Karnataka remain points of vulnerability, with rabies cases still detected in talukas like Bicholim, Pernem, Sattari, and Canacona. 'We are vaccinating stray dogs in border talukas on a warfooting,' said Harlankar. In June 2021, it was made mandatory for visitors bringing pets into Goa to declare their animals and share vaccination records via the anti-rabies hotline to prevent cross-border transmission.
Time of India
3 hours ago
- Time of India
Why US budget cuts could derail future mRNA vaccine progress
mRNA vaccines are credited with helping to end the COVID-19 pandemic and save millions of lives. Since then, researchers have been developing the technology to prevent a variety of infectious diseases and cancer. But experts warn this progress has been severely impacted after US health secretary Robert F Kennedy announced cuts to mRNA technology research. In total, the US health department will cancel contracts and withdraw $500 million (€427 million) of research funding, it announced on August 8. The announcement was the latest in a series of anti-science policies brought in by President Trump's second term in office, including a political take-over of federal research grants and withdrawing from the World Health Organization. What does this mean for the future of mRNA vaccine development? We take a look. mRNA vaccines have a long history of safety and efficacy mRNA vaccines were first tested in mice to vaccinate against flu in the 1990s, then first tested in humans in 2013 to vaccinate against rabies . It was thanks to these decades of research and testing that mRNA vaccine technology was ready and safe during the COVID-19 pandemic. Kennedy has been a longtime critic of the technology, saying in a video posted to social media platforms that mRNA programs are "troubled'. "We're prioritizing the development of safer, broader vaccine strategies, like whole-virus vaccines and novel platforms that don't collapse when viruses mutate," Kennedy said in the video. What other types of vaccine are in development? There are many types of vaccines in development that have different methods of helping the body to fight a virus. Each technology has advantages and limitations which depend on the disease, the target population, and practical considerations like production speed and costs. Vaccine technology platforms include live (but weakened) and deactivated "whole" pathogen vaccines. The polio vaccine is available in both forms, for example. There are also toxoid-based vaccines, which use inactivated bacterial toxins. Then there are viral vector vaccines, which train the immune system by introducing tiny viral pathogenic fragments into the body. DNA-based therapies are also being considered as another way to provide an accurate target for a human immune response. Luka Cicin-Sain, a viral immunologist at Germany's Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, is leading the development of a respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine. The RSV vaccine is a viral vector product, which uses a low-risk mouse virus to deliver the RSV spike protein to the human immune system. Though still being tested, Cicin-Sain is hopeful that his platform will provide long-lasting immunity against RSV with a single immunization dose. Are other types of vaccines as good as mRNA vaccines? Despite the promise these other vaccine technologies have shown, they haven't had the same impact as their mRNA cousin. That's because the benefit of using mRNA technology as vaccines is the ability to quickly adapt their use for new pathogens. "Once you know the structure of the virus, the genetics of the virus, then you can produce a vaccine extremely rapidly," said Penny Ward, a pharmaceutical physician at Kings College London, UK. In some cases, mRNA vaccines can be more effective at training the body's immune response to a pathogen. "We don't seem to produce the same immune response to a DNA vaccine as we have to a [m]RNA vaccine," said Ward. Will a loss for mRNA research be a gain for other vaccines? There is no guarantee the $500 million funding will flow to other vaccine research. Kennedy is a longtime vaccine critic — he has fired the panel that makes vaccine recommendations and shared anti-vax sentiment, including during a measles outbreak in the US in May. Cicin-Sain worries that defunding one branch of vaccine science hinders overall progress in the research field. "I'm not saying that mRNA vaccines can solve everything, but why deny yourself a tool in your toolkit?" Cicin-Sain said. Kennedy's funding cuts will slow down RNA technology development, Cicin-Sain said, and drive American scientists to compete for funding outside the US, diminishing ongoing vaccine science. Will others step in to fund mRNA vaccine research ? While other private and philanthropical research funds do exist to fund mRNA vaccine technologies, it's unlikely they can fill the $500 million gap left by the Trump administration's cuts. There's also no guarantee other national governments will step in to fill the US void. "The funding in Europe has been stagnant," said Cicin-Sain. "And there are not so many [private] investors out there who think that vaccines are the best way to put their VC [venture capital] at work," he added. Ward highlighted another problem with cuts to publicly funded vaccine research — governments who fund vaccine research get first access to successful products, which is why Brits were among the first to get the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. "Government funding secures access for countries that are part funders for those products," Ward told DW. If private funders step in to fund mRNA vaccine research, it could reduce people's access to those vaccines at an affordable price. "If progress is to be made, and there's no source of government funding, the industry will fund [research] if they believe there's a market, but that will be reflected in the price of the eventual product,' Ward said. "No matter how you slice or dice, the net effects are going to be negative," Cicin-Sain said.
Time of India
7 hours ago
- Time of India
Telangana records over 900% rise in abortions in 5 years, highest among all states
1 2 Hyderabad: Telangana recorded an over 900% rise in abortions (medically terminated pregnancies) over the past five years, shows data tabled in the Rajya Sabha recently. This is the highest increase that any state has witnessed in India during this period — with abortion numbers increasing from 1,578 in 2020-21 to 16,059 in 2024-25. During the intervening years, the count rose from 4,071 in 2022-23 to a staggering 12,365 in 2023-24. The records were presented by Union minister of state for health and family welfare, Anupriya Patel. Doctors from Telangana attributed this sharp rise to a host of reasons ranging from medical conditions, unplanned pregnancies, higher living costs to more women wanting to delay motherhood. You Can Also Check: Hyderabad AQI | Weather in Hyderabad | Bank Holidays in Hyderabad | Public Holidays in Hyderabad | Gold Rates Today in Hyderabad | Silver Rates Today in Hyderabad "Majority of abortions during this period were performed before completion of 12 weeks of pregnancy, due to medical complications. There were spontaneous abortions because of genetics, chromosomal and congenital abnormalities — detected in the developing fetus. These natural pregnancy losses represented a significant portion of the overall figures," said Dr VK Sumithra, programme joint director, state's maternal health and nutrition department. She said, in some cases, failure to comply with use of contraceptives — including missing trimesterly injections — led to MTPs. "Economic reasons too are reshaping family planning choices, particularly in urban areas, with couples choosing to delay or limit childbirth," she added. Dr Hem Lata, senior gynaecologist and additional deputy district medical and health officer (DMHO), Hyderabad, reiterated the changing family planning patterns in Telangana. "Till a few years ago, people would undergo family planning operations after having two children, but now they are getting it done after one child only due to high living costs and other expenses," she said, adding, "This shows how economic pressures are driving reproductive decisions. " Improved data collection and increased awareness are also factors that have added to this surge, say doctors. Earlier, many MTP cases went unreported due to lack of streamlined systems. "Now, with the integration of the Health Management Information System (HMIS) reporting mechanisms have significantly improved. This, along with greater awareness around the provisions of the MTP Act, 2017, has led to more accurate and consistent documentation of medical terminations across the state," said Dr Sumithra. "To add to that is the age of abortion being increased from 20 weeks to 24 weeks, and in special circumstances abortion above 24 weeks," she added. Some also pegged it to changing demographic patterns, particularly post Covid-19. "More women are part of the workforce and prioritise career growth, stability, and family planning," said Dr Rupa Banu, a gynaecologist from a private hospital. Stay updated with the latest local news from your city on Times of India (TOI). Check upcoming bank holidays , public holidays , and current gold rates and silver prices in your area. Get the latest lifestyle updates on Times of India, along with Happy Krishna Janmashtami Wishes ,, messages , and quotes !
