The number of Covid-19 cases in Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) jurisdiction has now come down by 42%.
While lockdown is considered to be a major reason, there was a dip in the testing rate by 12%.
During the surge, the average number of per day cases was 1,200 with the highest on April 4 with 1,536 cases. The number of tests conducted, including both RT-PCR and antigen, during the same time was around 8,000 daily. Since April 18, the number of cases has been below 1,000. NMMC has been reporting around 700 cases daily on average. The minimum number of cases recorded was 503 on April 26. However, the testing has gone down to 7,000 per day.
NMMC commissioner Abhijit Banagar said, “The RT-PCR testing that was being done at private labs has gone down, due to which, the average number of daily testing has also gone down. In a way, it is a good sign that people are not panicking and rushing to do RT-PCR tests and are doing the same as per the need. Our lab has a capacity of conducting 3,000 tests which we manage to stretch to 3,500.”
Bangar added that lockdown has played a major role in the decrease in cases. An officer from NMMC requesting anonymity said, “As per the pattern observed in other states, the surge in cases is quick, however, the decrease too is equally fast. We had reached the peak in early April and the cases are now coming down as per the pattern seen elsewhere.”
{{/usCountry}}Bangar added that lockdown has played a major role in the decrease in cases. An officer from NMMC requesting anonymity said, “As per the pattern observed in other states, the surge in cases is quick, however, the decrease too is equally fast. We had reached the peak in early April and the cases are now coming down as per the pattern seen elsewhere.”
{{/usCountry}}According to activist Anarjit Chouhan, “Even as the cases might have come to 500 per day, there was a time when we had only 50 to 55 cases per day. So definitely, this not the best that the corporation can do. Also, I am sceptical regarding the death rate being recorded by NMMC. The deaths might be much higher than those reported.”
While the mortality rate from April 1 to April 17 was 0.04%, it went up to 0.53% from April 18 to April 26.