"Mumbai doctors see a rise in coughing bouts after a viral illness, more in kids," said a report in Times Of India earlier this month. The report was about the incidence of post-viral cough in children and adults. Many patients were required to take steroids for relief, as common medicine was not effective.

With time, it seems, more and more people have been affected by stubborn coughs and colds. "Every 5th person I am meeting in Mumbai has a bad throat, cough and cold. And it seems recovery is taking more than 3 weeks for a common cold/viral," wrote Adith Podhar today on Twitter. Reacting to the tweet, a doctor shared the bad news that a cancer hospital and he have seen 50% folks (patients and attendants) coughing loudly in the ward. "Pretty scary scene. I hear that this is Air Quality Index is to blame for this," wrote Raj Kunkolienkar.

Economist Sanjeev Sanyal observed a "really vicious cold bug that has spread all over India (and the world)." He tweeted, "Almost everyone I know - including myself - has had a bad throat infection that then lingers for days as a chest congestion. Very annoying."

There is a theory that rising levels of pollution are to be blamed for this new-found problem. But, can pollution be on the rise everywhere so suddenly? Some argue that we might well be facing a new Covid-19 wave. "I came to the office today in Bangalore after a gap of two weeks. People here are either coughing or busy clearing their noses. At one point, that noise itself became so irritating. I think we all are swimming some new Covid wave unknowingly," a user wrote.