Avoid outside food and swimming? Mumbai doctor on rising virus cases

Mumbai is witnessing a rise in highly contagious stomach flu infections caused mainly by norovirus and rotavirus, with experts advising people—especially families with young children—to avoid eating out, raw foods, and swimming pools for at least a week to reduce the risk of infection. The viruses spread through contaminated food, water, surfaces, and close contact, and commonly cause diarrhoea, vomiting, stomach cramps, fever, and dehydration, with infants, young children, older adults, and those with weak immunity at higher risk of severe illness. Doctors recommend eating freshly cooked home meals, drinking safe water, practising frequent handwashing, using ORS to prevent dehydration, and seeking medical care if symptoms worsen or signs of dehydration appear. They also stress that timely rotavirus vaccination in infancy, along with good hygiene and early treatment, remains the best way to protect children from severe disease.