Mumbai records 1,008 coronavirus cases, 64 Covid-19 deaths in a month

Mumbai breached the 100-patient mark on March 31, almost three weeks after an Andheri couple were identified as the first to be infected by the disease in the city. On April 2, the city’s tally crossed 200 and since then cases have tripled in the past week.

A month since the first infection of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) was reported in Mumbai, the city’s case count crossed the 1,000-mark on Friday. Mumbai reported 132 new cases and 10 deaths on Friday, taking its tally to 1,008 and toll to 64.

Nurses from KEM Hospital on their way to duty during restrictions on citizen's movement on account of section 144 due to COVID 19 pandemic in Mumbai, India, on Thursday, April 9, 2020. (Vijayanand Gupta/HT Photo)

Mumbai breached the 100-patient mark on March 31, almost three weeks after an Andheri couple were identified as the first to be infected by the disease in the city. On April 2, the city’s tally crossed 200 and since then cases have tripled in the past week.

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The number of fatalities, too, have spiked in the past four days, with the city reporting 24 deaths. The first Covid-19 death in Mumbai was recorded on March 17, when a 64-year-old man succumbed to the infection at Kasturba Hospital.

The G South ward, which comprises areas of Worli and Prabhadevi, has been the worst-hit in Mumbai with 199 cases. E ward (Byculla, Mazagaon) has 69 cases, followed by D ward (Malabar Hill, Grant Road) that has 61 cases.

Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) chief Praveen Pardeshi said rise in the number of cases was directly proportional to the number of tests being conducted in the city. “High level of testing is our weapon. It’s through testing that we have identified many positive cases at an early stage, thereby, reducing the chances of community transmission. We are tracing more and more cases before the 14-day cycle of the virus, so that the numbers don’t grow and emerge as community spread,” said Pardeshi.

To increase testing, the BMC has given temporary permission to Suburban Diagnostics, a private laboratory, to set up Covid-19 testing booths at public parking lots.

The civic body has also decided to procure 50,000 rapid testing kits, which will help it deal with the outbreak in densely populated areas.

“This antibody test will be made available in the next three-four days,” said a senior officer from the civic health department.

However, medical experts said instead of high level of testing, the government should opt for random community testing. “It is necessary to do testing on a large scale, but it is not enough. In addition to that the government should go for random testing in an area such as Dharavi and Worli to get information about community spread of virus,” said Dr Shashikant Ahankari, a community health specialist, and president of Halo Medical Foundation.

Meanwhile, on Friday, six more people tested positive for Covid-19 in Dharavi, taking the total cases in India’s largest slum to 28, a BMC official said. The state health department, however, was yet to confirm these cases.

Two of the six, who tested positive, had returned from the Tablighi Jamaat event held in Delhi. “One of them is from Dr Baliga Nagar and the other one from PMGP Colony. We have already started tracing their high risk contacts,” said Kiran Dighavkar, assistant commissioner of the G/North Ward.

Two nurses, aged 27 years and 42 years, of Dadar’s Shushrusha Hospital, too, tested positive for Covid-19 on Friday, after which authorities asked the hospital to stop taking in new patients. The BMC asked the hospital to quarantine around 28 nurses.

With inputs from Sagar Pillai