Mumbai sees dip in daily Covid-19 tests ahead of Diwali: BMC data

BMC has been conducting tests for Covid-19 since February 3, and the first case was detected on March 11.

Ahead of Diwali, the number of Covid-19 tests being conducted in the city has gone down.

BMC has, since November 1, also started free testing centres at 244 locations in the city, wherein citizens can walk in daily between 10am and 12noon to test for free. (Praful Gangurde/HT)

According to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC)’s data, 1.11 lakh tests were conducted in the first 10 days of November, compared to 1.41 lakh tests in the corresponding period in October. The city reported 7,274 cases from November 1 to 10, compared to 19,656 cases in the first 10 days of October. With a similar number (1.11 lakh) of tests in the first 10 days of September, the city had reported 16,168 cases. The positivity rate for the first 10 days was 6.54% in November, 13.91% in October and 14.30% in September.

BMC has been conducting tests for Covid-19 since February 3, and the first case was detected on March 11. Mumbai became the first city in the country to liberalise testing guidelines starting July 7, to allow all citizens to get tested, irrespective of symptoms.

However, as the festivities neared, BMC said it planned to conduct 20,000 to 24,000 daily tests. BMC has, since November 1, also started free testing centres at 244 locations in the city, wherein citizens can walk in daily between 10am and 12noon to test for free. However, the number has gone down to between 8,000 and 13,000 tests daily, down from around 13,000 to 15,000 tests daily in October. Of the total daily tests, the ratio of testing using rapid antigen kits is around 40%.

Dr Kedar Toraskar, a member of Maharashtra’s Covid-19 task force, said, “November has been better compared with other months, but we will have to continue testing. Our suggestion is that the number of testing should not go down but remain the same, if not increase.”

On the other hand, Dr Shashank Joshi, another member of state’s Covid-19 task force, said, “The testing has increased in the past few months. But there are two probable reasons why the number may be going down – people are treating for Covid-19 without testing, which is not a good thing. Secondly, as cases are going down, people are not getting tested, assuming Covid-19 is gone. We need to continue with Covid-appropriate behaviour because cases may have gone down but Covid-19 is not gone.”

The one lakh-test mark was crossed on May 6, three lakh on June 24, four lakh on July 14, five lakh on July 29, 10 lakh on September 20, and 11 lakh on September 27. The overall tests remained 11.15 lakh, as of September and the positivity rate stood at 18.15%. Until November 10, 16.48 lakh tests have been conducted and the overall positivity rate is 16.12%.

Daksha Shah, executive health officer of BMC, said, “The effort from the administration is maximum. However, owing to Diwali, many with mild symptoms or asymptomatic patients don’t want to get tested. In the coming days, the daily testing figure will go up.”

On Thursday, the city reported 858 cases taking the tally to 2,67,606. Nineteen deaths were reported taking the toll to 10,525. Further, 2,41,214 patients have been discharged post Covid-19 treatment in Mumbai.

The city’s discharge rate is 90.13%. There are 15,117 active cases in Mumbai and fatality rate is of 3.93%. One hotspot that has shown signs of drastic improvement – Dharavi – recorded only two new Covid-19 cases on Thursday. Dharavi’s tally is 3,608, of which 3,246 patients have been discharged.