Mumbai warns of huge surge in Covid cases, positivity rate at 6%

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Wednesday said that Covid testing will be ramped up in Mumbai as the test positivity rate (TPR) in the city has jumped to 6%.

The BMC issued a warning saying that daily new Covid-19 cases have tremendously increased in the city. "With monsoon around the corner, we will now see a rapid rise in symptomatic cases," the BMC warned.

BMC commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal on Wednesday issued directives to assistant municipal commissioners and health department officials to take necessary steps to prevent the spreading of Coronavirus in the city. 

“There is a report about new subtypes of Covid in various countries and the infection has once again started taking a toll. Mumbai metropolis is witnessing a sharp rise in the number of Covid cases. Although vaccination is widespread in Mumbai, care must be taken not to be inattentive,” reads the directives.

On Wednesday, Mumbai reported a total of 739 Covid cases. On Tuesday, the city registered 506 infections, the highest daily count since February 6 this year, which raised the tally of infections to 10,65,802 that day, a civic official said.

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The number of active cases went past 2,500 and reached 2,526. The number of recoveries in Mumbai stands at 10,43,710 while the Covid death toll remained unchanged at 19,566 with no fresh fatalities being reported during the day, the official said.

The daily number of infections in the metropolis crossed the 500 mark on February 6 this year when 536 cases were detected.

As per the bulletin released by the civic body, Mumbai's case recovery rate now stands at 98 per cent.

The city has witnessed a significant rise in the daily cases this month compared to April.

The metropolis had reported cases in three digits on 27 days this month.

Mumbai logged a total of 5,979 cases in May, as against 1,822 cases in April, while it reported only three deaths this month compared to four fatalities in April.

The city reported 318 cases and zero fatalities on Monday.

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As many as 8,139 swab samples were tested in the last 24 hours, raising the total number of tests conducted in Mumbai to 1,71,36,684.

There are currently 24,472 beds available in city hospitals and only 90 beds are occupied at present, the bulletin stated.

Of the latest cases, 489 (98 per cent) patients were asymptomatic and only 17 have been admitted to hospitals, it said.

The overall growth rate cases in Mumbai is 0. 029 per cent for the period between May 24 to 30 and the city has recorded a doubling rate of 2,355 days, it was stated.