Mumbai conducts 530,249 Covid tests per million of population, less than Delhi, Bengaluru’s average

With a total of 7,423,483 Covid-19 tests conducted so far, Mumbai has, on average, done 530,249 tests per million of the population, less than Delhi, which has conducted 1,153,482 (cumulative) tests per million of the population, and Bengaluru which has conducted 904,168 tests per million of the population, according to data from Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC). The civic body conducts between 30,000 and 40,000 tests per day, with an average positivity rate of below 2%.

However, despite the positivity rate, experts believe the city needs to conduct more tests per day, especially when unlock plans start for the city, and during the festival season from September.

Dr Rahul Pandit said, “Despite the lower number of cases now, and the low positivity rate, I have always maintained we ought to be conducting more tests. We should be conducting as many tests as Delhi and Bengaluru. Unlike earlier, almost 60-70% of the total tests per day in these two cities are RT-PCR. So they are effectively testing more numbers in their population.”

According to Dr Pandit, if BMC traces and tests up to 25 high-risk contacts per positive case, it will prove more effective in curbing the spread of the virus. Presently, BMC traces up to 15 contacts per positive case.

However, Dr Om Shrivastav, who is also a member of the state government’s Covid-19 task force, testing numbers differ based on the period and number of cases in the city. He said, “At its peak of the Covid-19 infection, when our per day caseload was high [over 5,000-6,000 cases per day, Mumbai was conducting up to 50,000 tests per day.”

With the reduced number of cases, and considerable restrictions still in place, the testing figures in the city have reduced, Dr Shrivastav said.

On Thursday, Mumbai conducted 39,075 Covid-19 tests, with its daily positivity rate at 1.5%.

On Friday, Mumbai reported 596 Covid-19 cases and 13 deaths.