Though the number of cases in Mumbai has come down even as testing has been ramped up over the last three months, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is anticipating a spike in cases as some restrictions were eased as part of the reopening strategy while some relaxations were also granted in August for the annual Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations.
Authorities have added that the upcoming week will prove to be crucial as the consequences of recent relaxations will be understood better.
The Additional Municipal Commissioner of the BMC, Suresh Kakani said “There will be a little spike in the number of cases being reported daily, and it is because we are having many relaxations... During the Ganesh festival, many went out and this might increase our tally.”
Data published by the State Health Department reveals that Mumbai reported 36,000 cases of the coronavirus in June, while the figure was down to 35,000 and 30,000 cases in July and August respectively.
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As for testing, the civic body was conducting around 4,422 daily tests in July while the number increased to 7,600 tests in August. Mumbai currently has a COVID-19 positivity rate of 18.74% based on the 792,000 COVID-19 tests conducted in the city so far.
The BMC officially conducted its first COVID-19 test in February, while the first positive case was reported on the 11th of March.
“We have to ramp up the testing considering we are currently under testing and under tracing. We have to optimise the testing considering our capacity, which is not happening currently”, Dr. Shashank Joshi said. He is a member of the state’s COVID-19 task force.
”We have liberalised testing where anyone can go and test, but if people are not coming out and testing, we will have to go to them and test them,” he added.
Also read - Fadnavis Urges CM Thackeray To Ramp Up COVID-19 Testing In Mumbai
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