Mumbai civic body on alert as COVID-19 cases rise in city

In the wake of a "tremendous" rise in new COVID-19 cases in the city over the past few weeks, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal on Wednesday asked civic officials to ramp up coronavirus testing immediately on a war footing and keep the staff of jumbo field hospitals on high alert.

June 01, 2022 / 17:22 IST

(Representative Image)

Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal on Wednesday asked civic officials to ramp up coronavirus testing immediately on a war-footing and keep the staff of jumbo field hospitals on alert in the wake of a "tremendous" rise in fresh COVID-19 cases in the city over the past few weeks. "The new cases (reported) daily have tremendously gone up in Mumbai, and with monsoon around the corner, we will now see a rapid rise in symptomatic cases," Chahal told BMC officials.

Since the beginning of May, the COVID-19 cases in the metropolis have been steadily going up. The number of new cases reported on Tuesday crossed the 500-mark for the first time after February 6. Chahal, in a message, directed the BMC officials to conduct the COVID-19 testing in Mumbai on a war-footing, ensure adequate staff at jumbo field hospitals and to keep them on alert.

He also asked the civic officials to tell private laboratories to be pro-active and fully prepared. Chahal also asked all the assistant municipal commissioners, in-charge of various wards, to review the status of ward war rooms to ensure they are fully equipped with staff, medical teams and ambulances, and also to put private hospitals on alert.

He also asked the assistant civic commissioners to take daily reviews of the COVID-19 situation in their wards and intervene wherever required. The civic chief also directed these officials to visit jumbo hospitals coming under their jurisdiction, to ensure they are monsoon-ready with de-watering pumps, structural stability certification, fire safety mechanisms, medical and paramedic staff, oxygen manufacturing plants and fully equipped with medicines.

"The jumbo medical facility in Malad area should be put to use on priority, if hospitalisations rise in the coming days," Chahal said. He also asked the civic officials to persuade people to take booster doses of vaccine against COVID-19, and boost up the inoculation drive in the 12-18 years category.

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

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