Mumbai witnesses marginal rise in number of fresh Covid-19 cases, deaths

Mumbai Covid-19 vaccination was also halted on Friday because of vaccine crunches across several centres.

Mumbai reported 9,202 fresh Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, a marginal increase from Thursday’s 8,938 infections, taking the disease tally in the financial hub to 501,182, the state's health department said on Friday. The city also recorded 35 fatalities in the same period, which pushed its death toll to 11,916, the health department’s bulletin showed. On Thursday, 25 people succumbed to the coronavirus disease.

A policewoman walks through a deserted area between the Gateway of India and Taj Mahal Hotel ahead of the scheduled weekend lockdown imposed by the state government amidst rising Covid-19 coronavirus cases in Mumbai. (AFP)

Mumbai has 90,333 active cases, according to data shared by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). It also said that 5,099 patients recovered on Friday and so far 397,613 patients of the coronavirus disease have been cured in the city. Mumbai’s recovery rate dropped to 79% and the current doubling rate in the city is 34 days.

Weekend lockdowns have been imposed in the state to check the rise in the number of cases but Maharashtra health minister Rajesh Tope said that the government will be forced to consider a lockdown if the state government is unable to cope with the surge in Covid-19 cases. The civic body has ordered that all beaches in the city will remain shut due to the surge in Covid-19 cases. The Mumbai Police also urged people to remain indoors in order to stop the spread of Covid-19.

Pune (100,051 active cases), Thane (67,479 active cases), Nashik (36,019 active cases) and Nagpur (63,036 active cases) are other districts along with Mumbai, which reported a surge in fresh cases on Friday.