With 79 deaths, Mumbai’s Covid toll crosses 12K on Sunday; tally 520K

The city’s death toll crossed the 12,000-mark on Sunday one year after the first Covid-19 death was reported in the city on March 17, 2020

The city’s death toll crossed the 12,000-mark on Sunday one year after the first Covid-19 death was reported in the city on March 17, 2020.

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Sunday saw 79 deaths, the highest in over six months, taking the toll to 12,023 deaths. The city also saw 9,986 cases, taking the tally to 520,498 cases.

The city’s recovery rate is 79.97%, with 416,287 recoveries, and the mortality rate is 2.30%. There are 91,100 active cases in the city.

As of Sunday morning, 15,243 of the 19,168 hospital beds in Mumbai were occupied, while 3,925 were vacant. Mumbai has 2,529 intensive care unit (ICU) beds, of which 89 are vacant. Of the 1,302 ventilator beds, 32 are vacant. There are 9,946 oxygen beds in the city, of which 1,507 are vacant.

On Saturday, Mumbai conducted 52,159 Covid-19 tests, which had a positivity rate of 19.14%. So far, Mumbai has conducted a total of 4,610,789 tests, having an average positivity rate of 11.07%. Positivity rate is the percentage of people who test positive for Covid-19 of the total number of tests conducted.

Dr Siddarth Paliwal, city-based physician, said, “We need to implement a strict lockdown of around 14 days to ensure we break the chain. Considering the figures of bed vacancy, even if we have around 20% hike in daily cases, bed management might become difficult. Hence, in my opinion strict restrictions are needed.”

Meanwhile, Mumbai mayor Kishori Pednekar on Sunday told reporters, “Fifty people died in the city on Saturday. The number of Covid-19 cases has increased dramatically in April. So, the alarm bells are ringing. Arrangements are being made and citizens should not waste time unnecessarily and take up the bed wherever they get one.”

The mayor added, “If we survive today, we will fight even more, politics can be done later. Even if the financial condition of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation is not good, we have to be prepared for this.”