Mumbai ranks first, amongst the leading cities in the country, in the number of COVID-19 tests carried out per million in view of aggressive testing policy adopted by the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). With more than 2,83,119 tests done so far, the number of tests per million in Mumbai touches 21,766, followed by 16,910 tests per million in Delhi and 4,901 per million in Bengaluru.
However, Mumbai, in comparison with Tamil Nadu as a whole, ranks second. TN has reported 24,799 tests per million population. Maharashtra has reported 6,125 per million population, Rajasthan has reported 9,818 per million population, Kerala has reported 5,177 per million population, Gujarat has reported 5,068 per million population and West Bengal has reported 4,218 per million population.
BMC additional municipal commissioner, who did not want to be named, told the Free Press Journal, ''The World Health organisation has hailed Mumbai's performance. BMC's testing policy has worked since the beginning.''
Similarly, the Union Ministry of Health has acknowledged the efforts of the Maharashtra government and the BMC in containing and managing the virus. The ministry has said that their strategy has shown encouraging results, as they have actively chased away the virus and aggressively targeted the tracing of COVID-19 suspects. ''Chase the virus and the containment strategy in Dharavi has worked as there was a steep decline in the daily cases to 19 in the third week of June from an average 43 cases in May. Being densely populated, Dharavi (2,27,136 persons per sq km) had 491 cases in April with a 12 per cent growth rate and a doubling period of 18 days. The growth rate has fallen to 4.3 per cent in May and further to 1.02 per cent in June. These measures also ensured an improved doubling time to 43 days in May and 78 days in June,'' the ministry said in its report released on Sunday.
The ministry further said that BMC adopted a model of actively following four T's -tracking, tracking, testing and treating, which included activities like proactive screening. While 4,76,775 were surveyed by BMC health workers, 47,500 people were covered by doctors and private clinics in house to house screening, and 14,970 were screened with the help of mobile vans. Also, around 8,246 senior citizens were surveyed and, as a part of the timely separation, they were separated from the other community members to effectively limit the transmission of the disease. In all, 5,48,270 were screened in Dharavi and the suspected cases were shifted to well organised COVID-19 Care Centres and quarantine centres.
''Strict enforcement of containment measures has been pivotal to BMC's containment of the virus in Dharavi. Effective containment strategy, comprehensive testing, ensuring uninterrupted supply of goods and essential supplies to the community have yielded positive results,'' said the ministry.
