MUMBAI - For doctors and healthcare workers in India's financial capital Mumbai who are grappling with surging coronavirus infections, the onset of the annual monsoon poses a serious threat - a new wave of patients with vector-borne diseases.
"Mumbai will be dealing with a crisis in the monsoon," said Dr Kamakshi Bhate, professor emeritus of community medicine at the state-run King Edward Memorial Hospital in Mumbai, noting there is typically a surge in hospital bed occupancy due to such diseases during India's annual June-September monsoon season.
In a report, local NGO Praja Foundation said official data from only government-run hospitals showed Mumbai recorded about 32,000 malaria and dengue cases in 2018, but the NGO said its own household survey indicated more than 200,000 cases of just those two diseases in the city that year.About 25 per cent of India's 297,535 coronavirus cases and roughly 29 per cent of the 8,498 deaths recorded have come from the city and its surrounding suburbs.
Drains are being cleaned and stored water in houses were being inspected for larvae, Mr Kakani said, adding that while major hospitals were on treating Covid patients, smaller nursing homes would be available to handle other cases.