In a clear evidence of the flattening Covid-19 curve in the country’s commercial Capital, the daily tally of infected cases came down to a low of 700 new cases on Tuesday, while the number of deaths remained relatively low at 55.
From 1021 new cases reported on Monday, the total number of infections in Mumbai – which has been the Covid-19 affected city in the entire country --dropped to 700 on Tuesday -- which incidentally during the last three months.
Till Monday, the number of deaths in Mumbai had ranged from 39 (July 27) to 65 (July 18) during the past ten days, the number of infected cases ranged from 992 (July 21) and 1310 (July 22) during the past 10 days.
With 700 fresh infections, the total number of infections in the metropolis rose to 110,882 in Mumbai, while the total number of deaths increased by 55 from to touch 6,187.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), which has been waging a grim battle against coronavirus for the past three and a half months, was in for pleasant surprise, as the number of new infections dropped to as low as 700 cases on Tuesday -- which incidentally was the day when highest 8776 Covid-19 tests were conducted in the metropolis.
“The good news: Only 700 cases today in Mumbai & that too with highest testing till date in Mumbai in a single day(8776).This is to chase the virus in full capacity. A major relief after 3 months. Caution: don’t let the guard down! Don’t let your mask down! Only get numbers down!,” a happy Maharashtra Minister Aaditya Thackeray tweeted.
“Mumbai will see more testing with chase the virus initiative of the @mybmc . It is also the only city to have liberalised testing and allowed citizens to “test at will”, Aaditya tweeted.”Chase the Virus model of Mumbai is being implemented in MMR region actively that has seen a ramping up of facilities in the past few weeks. Along with MMR, rest of Maharashtra too is taking all efforts to tackle covid pandemic effectively,” Aaditya added.
In another good piece of news, the recovery rate in Mumbai has increased to 73 percent, while the case doubling rate is 68 days in the metropolis.
In Mumbai, over 4.85 lakh Covid-19 tests have been done so far, while the overall growth from 20-26 July is 1.03 per cent.
In Mumbai, the BMC has replicated the “chase the virus” which it had successfully adopted “chase the virus” at Dharavi slum in north-central MumbaiBeing densely populated (2,27,136 persons/ sq. km), Dharavi had 491 cases in April 2020 with a 12% growth rate and a case doubling period of 18 days. The proactive measures adopted by BMC reduced the COVID-19 growth rate to 4.3 per cent in May 2020 and further to 1.02% in June. These measures also ensured an improved case doubling time to 43 days in May 2020 and 78 days in June 2020.
Several challenges presented themselves to BMC in Dharavi where 80% population depends on community toilets. BMC adopted a model of actively following four T’s – Tracing, Tracking, Testing and Treating. This approach included activities like proactive screening. While 47,500 people were covered by doctors and private clinics in house-to-house screening, about 14,970 people were screened with the help of Mobile Vans, and 4,76,775 were surveyed by BMC health workers.