Mumbai’s Covid-19 cases near 60,000 mark

As the city’s Covid-19 case count inches towards 60,000, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) claimed to have screened over 83 lakh citizens till date, which

As the city’s Covid-19 case count inches towards 60,000, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) claimed to have screened over 83 lakh citizens till date, which is over 50% of the city’s population as per the 2011 Census. BMC has conducted 2.61 lakh tests, with a positivity rate of 22.25% as of Sunday and traced over 10.94 lakh close contacts.

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Mumbai reported 1,067 new Covid-19 cases and 68 deaths on Monday, taking the count to 59,293 and toll to 2,250. There are 26,910 active Covid-19 cases and 30,125 patients have recovered.

The civic body said of the 83.57 lakh citizens screened, 3.57 lakh were senior citizens, of whom 1,924 were referred for oxygen therapy owing to low oxygen levels in their body. Further, BMC has set up over 410 fever clinics in which 25,535 citizens have been screened and 5,874 swabs taken for testing. A BMC official said, “We are planning to screen maximum citizens. As we are completing screening in slums, we are focusing on high-rises.”

According to BMC’s data, of the 10.94 lakh contacts traced, seven lakh are high-risk contacts, those who are directly in touch with the patient who has tested positive such as a family member, friend or relative. Low-risk contacts are those living nearby, but not in direct contact with the patient.

In a statement issued on Monday, BMC said the doubling rate in the city has now increased to 27 days and the average daily patient growth rate is 2.65%. In F-North ward, which covers areas such as Matunga, Antop Hill and Wadala, the doubling period has now reached 55 days, with the lowest growth rate being 1.3%, followed by doubling period of 53 days in M-East ward covering Govandi, where the average patient growth rate is also 1.3%.

Areas such as Bandra East, Dharavi, Dadar, Mahim, Kurla, Byculla and Mazgaon have a doubling rate of more than 40 days and fatalities at less than 2%. The areas that have a doubling rate of less than 20 days are Malad, Kandivli, Borivli, Dahisar, Mulund, Bhandup and Kanjurmarg. These areas also have high growth rates of more than 3%.

Meanwhile, additional municipal commissioner Sanjeev Jaiswal on Monday met municipal commissioners from the Mumbai Metropolitan Region wherein it was decided that all health workers of the civic bodies can be issued an e-pass for travelling via suburban local trains that started its operations from Monday. Until the e-pass is issued, all staff should use their ID cards.