For a city that had been ravaged by the coronavirus, in a first, only 7.9 per cent of those tested in Mumbai in a day were found to be positive for the coronavirus.
On Tuesday 8,776 people were tested for COVID-19, the highest number of tests conducted in Mumbai in a single day so far. Of these, only 700 which translates to 7.9 per cent were found to be infected with the contagious disease.
The BMC Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal had earlier notified the public that the doubling rate in the city happens to be 68 days at the moment. On Tuesday, 55 deaths were clocked due to the coronavirus which took the toll to 6,187. The total number of cases of COVID-19 reached 1.10 lakh.
This comes as a piece of good news for Mumbai as the widening gap between the number of tests conducted and the positive cases can be attributed to many factors, namely, increased testing across the community. Since July 3, the BMC had permitted everyone to conduct testing for the coronavirus without a prescription from the medical practitioner. With the scope of testing now extended from targeted testing of symptomatic and high-risk contacts to the general population, some experts believe that this has resulted in a positive outcome.
According to a state official, 60 to 70 per cent of the tests conducted on Tuesday in Mumbai were antigen tests. A rapid antigen test is a rapid diagnostic test suitable for point-of-care testing that directly detects the presence or absence of an antigen. This distinguishes it from other medical tests that detect antibodies or nucleic acid.
As per data shared by the BMC, the positivity rate fell to 22.1 per cent on July 10, and further down to 20.6 per cent on July 20. On July 25, it stood at 13.1 per cent. Overall, Mumbai’s positivity rate stands at 22.4 per cent at the moment.
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