Mumbai prepared for daily spike of 2,000 COVID-19 cases: BMC chief

Photo used for representational purpose

The country's financial capital is expecting to get more than 2,000 Covid-19 infections daily but is geared to tackle the onslaught by deploying various measures, Municipal Commissioner I.S. Chahal said here on Monday.

Attributing the current increase due to revamping of Covid testing facilities in the city, he said that currently the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) was conducting an average 4,000 tests daily since May-June, and this reached around 6,500 tests daily in July and around 7,600 in August.

On Sunday, the city recorded a staggering 1,910 new Covid cases, the highest till date, taking the total number of infections in Mumbai to 155,622 now, besides 7,869 deaths - ranking second in both after Pune - but daily fatalities have been remaining below the 50 mark since the past 28 days.

"It was decided in the last week of August 2020 to further revamp the testing. In the month of September, accordingly, tests have been around 9,000-10,000 daily since September 1, reaching upto 11,861 by September 7," Chahal said.

Stressing that there is no cause for worry, the civic chief said that currently around 4,800 Covid beds are lying vacant while another 6,200 beds in the jumbo field hospitals are ready and can be added to the dashboard at short notice.

"Around 60-70 per cent positive cases are asymptomatic in nature requiring home quarantine only. The availability of beds for symptomatic positive cases in Mumbai will not be an issue at all, even if the number of positive cases on an average goes beyond 2,000 every day," Chahal assured.

The BMC will add 250 additional ICU beds on the dashboard in the next 3 days to ensure that at least 350 plus ICU beds remain vacant every day, as a relief to the anxious citizens of Mumbai.

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