Mumbai: BMC ups testing by 28 per cent post Ganesh festivities

BMC staff carry out rapid antigen tests at the Lokmanya Tilak Terminus on Saturday. Pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi

Post the Ganesh festival in the city, the BMC increased Covid-19 testing by 28 per cent. Health experts have welcomed the move saying more testing and vaccination is the only way to deal with the third wave.

According to statistics, between September 20 and October 1, the civic body conducted 3,98,526 tests, of which 4,890 tested positive for Covid-19. Before this, between September 10 and 19, the BMC had conducted 3,11,289 tests.

Despite an increase in the number of tests, the city's average TPR is stable at around 1.2 per cent, a BMC official shared. Civic officials attributed this to the stringent measures taken by them to control Covid-19 cases, which was expected to increase during the festival season. "The vaccinations have also helped due to which most of them have developed antibodies," said a BMC health official.

Suresh Kakani, the additional municipal commissioner, BMC said the change in protocol of testing has also helped. "Earlier, we used to test high risk people or close contacts of the patients on day 5 or day 7 or whenever they developed symptoms. Now, we are testing them on day 1 or day 2," he said. He also said that occupants of sealed buildings are undergoing screening tests. "They have to undergo RT-PCR test irrespective of whether they fall under the high risk category or not," said Kakani.

He said that the BMC would be doing more screening tests in the coming days. "People coming to Mumbai from other states will have to mandatorily undergo Covid-19 testing," he said.

Dr Kedar Toraskar, critical care specialist, Wockhardt Hospital and member of the state task force said while the increase in testing is a positive development, the city still needs to conduct 80,000 tests per day.

‘No garba in housing societies'

The BMC has refused to give permission to housing societies to carry out Navratri celebrations. "Around 95 per cent of the Covid-19 positive cases are currently in buildings and only five per cent cases are found in slums. If we give permission, cases will increase," said Suresh Kakani, additional commissioner, BMC. If anyone is found playing garba in housing societies, an FIR will be registered against the society or building. Every ward will have two or three teams to patrol the areas, and police officials will be part of the team.

- Priti Khuman Thakur