769 Covid-19 cases: Mumbai sees highest single-day jump

The city crossed the 10,000 mark for Covid-19 cases, with 769 cases – highest single-day count – bringing its total to 10,714. The toll crossed the 400 mark, with

The city crossed the 10,000 mark for Covid-19 cases, with 769 cases – highest single-day count – bringing its total to 10,714. The toll crossed the 400 mark, with 25 deaths pushing the number to 412, according to the state health department data.

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On April 25, Mumbai had 5,049 positive cases with 191 deaths, which increased to 7,812 cases and 295 deaths on May 1 to crossing the 10,000 mark on Wednesday. The areas that have the highest number of cases include Worli, Prabhadevi, Dharavi, Byculla, Mazagaon, Malabar Hill, Dadar and Mahim. Of them, Worli and Prabhadevi that fall under the G-South Ward of Mumbai are inching towards 1,000 cases, followed by Dharavi (G-North ward), which has more than 650 cases. At least 12,000 citizens have been screened at more than 250 fever clinics, of which 250 have tested positive.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has maintained that it expects around 75,000 cases by the end of the month. By this projection, the daily average number of cases in the city would be 2,000. However, the current daily average for the past 10 days is 450 cases. While the BMC said the cases are not going up drastically, the curve is not showing any downward movement either.

The civic body also said the daily testing capacity in the city will increase to 10,000 in the coming two weeks, from the current 6,000 tests. In Mumbai, 1 lakh tests have been conducted so far, with the daily figure at 4,000.

Suresh Kakani, additional municipal commissioner, BMC, said, “The doubling rate of Mumbai (rate at which the positive cases double) is still the same at 10 days. We had projected 75,000 cases by the end of this month, but it does not necessarily mean that we will have that many cases. We have readied beds for 60,000 patients. One cannot say whether the current number is the peak or whether the decline has started. The cases are definitely rising, but the rise is steady. The curve is not showing any downward trend, which means we have to be ready to handle the number of cases that we have projected.”

As a precaution, municipal commissioner Praveen Pardeshi on Tuesday ordered closure of non-essential and liquor shops. In a circular, Pardeshi pointed out: “It has been observed that number of positive cases in the city of Mumbai has been rising and the downward trend is yet to set in and gathering of crowds in large numbers without following social distancing will be detrimental to the control of spread of virus and the advantages of the lock-down will be lost...”

According to BMC officials, they have been conducting tests to 50 per cent of their capacity (4,000 of the capacity of 6,000) daily. “The capacity always has to be more than the total requirement. We have around 12 labs in the city now, and the number will increase to 15 labs, to increase the testing capacity to 10,000… In a way, cases and tests are related, but not directly. Earlier, we had to conduct many tests, but now with change in our strategy and the guidelines, we have to conduct optimal number of tests.”

According to the data of Medical Education and Drugs Department of Maharashtra, Mumbai has a recovery rate of 16% – 1,686 of the total 9,945 cases have recovered, as of Tuesday.

Dr Sanjay Pattiwar, a public health consultant, said, “Increasing testing capacity is needed, but we need to have community quarantining for suspected citizens. Mere increasing tests will not help us detect more cases.”