Mumbai: A day after the highest single-day spike in new cases was recorded in Maharashtra (7,074), there was a seven per cent drop on Sunday in comparison, with 6,555 new cases and 151 deaths, taking the total positive count to 2,06,619, with 8,822 deaths until now.
While the number of cases crossed the one-lakh mark 95 days after the pandemic reached the state, it has taken just 23 days for this number to more than double. “The state has recorded an average of 4,301 cases daily in the last 23 days, which is how the progressive count crossed two lakh soon,” said an official.
Of the 151 deaths, 89 are from the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, followed by 35 in Pune, 16 in Nashik division and 11 in Aurangabad division.
According to the public health department of the BMC, there were 1,311 corona cases and 69 deaths in the city on Sunday, bringing the total count to 84,125, with 4,896 deaths until now.
After a poor response to the sero-survey sought by the BMC from residents of high-rises in the M-West, F-North and R-North wards, the civic body has now made an appeal to the housing societies in these areas to cooperate with and support BMC officials and volunteers approaching them for this survey. So far, 2,000 samples have been collected.
“Monitoring the extent of exposure across populations and geographical locations is critical and hence this study uses scientifically designed random sampling methods. Our repeat serological survey will be critical for informed policy decisions and could also provide information about risk factors such as co-morbidities and age/gender specific susceptibility,” said professor Ullas Kolthur of TIFR.
Mumbai also began rapid antigen testing on suspected Covid-19 patients from Friday. The test takes around 30 minutes and provides quick results if a person is positive. If the report is negative, the case is referred for an RT-PCR test.
Experts also pointed that consistent testing is one reason why Mumbai’s caseload is reducing. The city tests around 4,500 to 5,000 people every day. It has so far tested over three lakh people but it has been a week since the BMC scaled up its testing as compared to other districts. In contrast, the number of tests conducted across Maharashtra has increased from around 17,000 until a fortnight ago to 20,000 per day.
Currently, there are 106 laboratories for Covid diagnosis in the state – 63 government and 43 private. Of the 11,12,442 laboratory samples, 2,06,619 had tested positive (18.57%) for Covid-19 until Sunday. Currently, 6,04,463 people are in home quarantine and 46,062 people are in institutional quarantine.
