Mumbai records 9,879 new cases, 21 deaths

While the city saw slightly fewer cases on Monday compared to Sunday, the daily positivity rate jumped five per cent, from 21% on Sunday to 26% on Monday, amid the partial lockdown announced by the state starting Monday night

While the city saw slightly fewer cases on Monday compared to Sunday, the daily positivity rate jumped five per cent, from 21% on Sunday to 26% on Monday, amid the partial lockdown announced by the state starting Monday night. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation expects the lockdown will help bring down the cases and mortality rate.

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On Monday, the city reported 9,879 cases and 21 deaths. The case tally went up to 462,560 and toll to 11,800. The recovery rate in the city is 81%, with 376,484 recoveries, and mortality rate is 2.55%. There are 73,281 active cases in the city.

The city’s positivity rate was around 5-7 per cent in February that went up to 10-15 per cent by last week of March, and in the last one week, the growth rate reached 26%. Over 4.3 million samples have been tested in the city since last year and overall positivity rate is 10.51%.

Suresh Kakani, additional municipal commissioner of BMC, said, “The lockdown will definitely help us bring down the cases in the city. It will help us test, trace and treat and with this the growth rate will automatically come down. This is proved globally and locally that the cases will come down with lockdown. However, I cannot give a date, but in the coming days we will get to see the change.”

According to BMC officials, all restrictions announced by the state government on Sunday will be implemented in the city, however, on certain issues, the BMC is expected to issue a clarification by Tuesday. The BMC has also decided to launch an awareness campaign in all 24 wards of the city wherein the BMC will go out on streets making citizens aware about the need to behave in Covid-19 appropriate manner. The city’s former hotspot, Dharavi, reported 47 new cases on Monday, taking the total to 5,238 cases in the past one year. There are 828 active cases in Dharavi and 4,093 have been discharged.

Meanwhile, municipal commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal called up a 76-year-old Covid-19 patient’s relative who was trying to get a bed in a private hospital for five hours. Chahal called up the relative and got her aunt a bed in the civic body’s Seven Hill hospital. The relative took to Twitter expressing her displeasure over not finding a bed. Post this, Chahal called up the relative. Later, the BMC in a tweet, said, “Ma’am. Hope you got clarity on a call from our Municipal Commissioner Mr Chahal, on how you violating the protocol led to all the confusion. We request all Mumbaikars to contact respective war rooms or 1916 - we have enough beds vacant and no one needs to go through this chase.”