Mumbai: BMC increases daily Covid-19 tests to over 40,000

A BMC health worker takes a nasal swab sample of a passenger at Lokmanya Tilak Terminus. Pic/Atul Kamble

Besides appealing citizens to get tested for Covid-19, the BMC has now even intensified a mass drive, as a precautionary measure for the impending third wave. On four out of the last 10 days, the daily number of tests has crossed 40,000.

While the local trains allow only fully vaccinated people, shops and restaurants have opened doors without too many restrictions. And so, the corporation has started conducting more tests to trace any Covid-19 patients.

Since last week, the number of tests conducted per day have increased. On August 18, 52,482 tests were conducted across the city, out of which 33,800 were antigen tests - mostly done by the corporation. On the next day, 56,566 tests including 38,100 antigen tests were done in the city. Last Tuesday and Wednesday, more than 40,000 tests were conducted each day.

"We have increased testing as the movement of passengers and citizens increased after the city has started to open up. The test positivity rate has not risen exponentially, but it can help in early testing and tracing contacts to curb the spread," said Kiran Dighavkar, assistant commissioner of the G North ward comprising Dadar, Mahim and Dharavi.

"Outstation trains do not halt at Kandivli, so we don't have a scope of testing passengers entering the city in long-distance trains. But we have increased testing of hawkers, shopkeepers," said Sandhya Nandedkar, assistant commissioner of R South ward comprising Kandivli. From August 18 to August 27, 3,50,336 tests were conducted in the city. It means that more than 35,035 tests are conducted daily.