Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) has already conducted more than its population of COVID-19 tests since the outbreak of the pandemic. The civic body has conducted more than 17.3 lakhs tests. The civic body claimed that the majority of the population were tested at least once for COVID-19.
NMMC is at the forefront in conducting COVID testing in comparison to the population of the city, while the population of the city is around 15 lakhs and it has already conducted more a total of 17,31,601 tests. Despite the low number of active cases, the civic body is conducting over 5000 tests per day.
Of the 17,31,601 testing, 1,06,188 citizens were found positive of COVID and 103733 have recovered and went home. However, a total of 1921 citizens died due to COVID infection. Of the 17,31,601 testing, a total of 10,57,085 tests were Rapid Antigen while the remaining 6,74,516 tests were RtPCR. “The civic body has its own lab for RtPCR check and its capacity is being increased up to 5000 per day as part of preparation for the third wave,” said a senior official from civic health department.
The effects of the second wave of COVID appear to be waning somewhat and the daily cases of COVID patients seem to be stabilised. However, as part of preventive measures for the possible third wave, the civic body has significantly increased COVID testing. “We are still conducting around 5000 tests per day to check the spread of the virus,” said the senior official.
In order to control the impact of the possible third wave of COVID, there is a need to prevent the spread. “The focus is to target in hotspot areas and even if a patient is found in a building, every citizen in the building will be tested to prevent the spread of covid among other occupants by declaring the building a hotspot,” said the official.
