Mumbai has reported 77 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, increasing the total count to 10,56,549. The city also reported zero deaths, taking the death toll to 16,691. This is the second consecutive day that the city has reported less than 100 cases.
Meanwhile, the weekly growth rate has come down to 0.01 per cent from 0.14 per cent on February 1. Moreover, the recovery and doubling rates have also increased to 98 per cent and 5,279 days, respectively.
Dr Ramesh Bharmal, former dean of BYL Nair Hospital, said that the overall trend in Mumbai is encouraging. “The cases are going down consistently and the number of people requiring hospital admissions is also marginal. We are hopeful that the number of active cases may dip below 500 by next week,” he said.
Maharashtra, meanwhile, witnessed a marginal rise in the daily cases on Tuesday, with 675 new infections and five deaths in 24 hours, pushing the tally to 78,66,380, with 1,43,706 fatalities so far.
Dr Shashank Joshi, a member of the State Covid-19 Task Force, has warned that though the cases are on a decline, the viral activity is still on. Any laxity in behaviour by the people could turn the graph, he has said. He added, “Due to the norms laid by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), we are not testing asymptomatic people, so a lot of undetected cases might be there. It is advisable that we follow Covid-appropriate behaviour even when Mumbai is at the lowest point in the third wave.”
State surveillance officer Dr Pradip Awate said, “The positivity rate in urban areas such as Mumbai, Thane and Palghar, which were reporting a high number of cases, has dropped. In the rural areas, though, the daily rate is higher; though there is an overall decline there as well.”
