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MUMBAI: As many as 80%-85% of the Covid-19 cases detected daily in the city at present are asymptomatic, municipal commissioner I S Chahal told TOI. On Wednesday, when the city saw almost 1,200 cases, 83% were asymptomatic and none were critical, he added.
Chahal has directed private hospitals not to admit any asymptomatic patient. Interestingly, in the state around 78% of active cases are in hospitals, whereas in Mumbai 49% are hospitalised.
The low hospitalisation numbers are being attributed to fewer people showing symptoms. But experts said this shouldn’t prevent authorities from preparing to scale up beds.
Doctors caution that one shouldn’t think any less of the Covid-19 virus looking at the high number of asymptomatic people. Intensivist Dr Kedar Toraskar, a member of the state task force, even questioned the data, saying it appeared “too high”. “They may have mild symptoms. The data collection must be reviewed,” he said, adding that a lot of younger people seemed to be getting infected in the February surge.