Amravati mutant could be behind surge in Mumbai: Subhash Salunkhe

There is a fear that the coronavirus variant found in Amravati may be responsible for the major spike in Covid-19 cases in Mumbai, as the daily cases in the city jumped from around 350-400 a week ago to 1,167 on Wednesday.

Subhash Salunkhe, who is adviser to the Maharashtra government on Covid-19, told ET that there is a possibility that the Amravati variant could be the reason for the rapid spread of the infection in Mumbai, Pune and other parts of the state.

“See, it has been more than 15 days, so the virus (someone carrying the virus) could have come to the city. The only way for us to know about it is if the cases in Mumbai or anywhere jump two-three-fold within weeks, as it happened in Amravati...then we would know for sure that the variant has reached Mumbai,” said Salunkhe.


Top officials in the state health department said that the “next few days are crucial”, and if different cities see a major rise in cases in the next 8-10 days, then their worst fears would come true.

Salunkhe said while the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, is studying the Amravati cases, there is one consolation that the current spike has not resulted in more fatalities.

On Thursday, Mumbai again added 1,145 fresh cases.

Ramkrishna Londhe, president, Maharashtra Indian Medical Association, told ET that there could be three virus variants.

“There could be three variants in the country. This is still a new virus and there is not much data available. How the virus is going to behave or what it would do is all just presumption.”

However, not everyone is buying the argument that the Amravati variant is responsible for the current spike in the state of Maharashtra.

An official in Pune said the rise in Pune rural areas was due to the gram panchayat polls held a month back.

“What we are witnessing in Pune rural at least, is due to the crowds and the poeple coming out during the panchayat polls. As of now, we are not seeing any virus variant leading to more cases,” said the official.