Covid surge: BMC asks officials to ramp up testing as TPR jumps to 6% in city
It has also reported a 133% increase in the number of Covid cases reported in the first half of May versus the second half
Mumbai Mumbai has witnessed a more than 200% increase in the number of Covid cases reported in May as compared to the cases reported in April this year, data from the state health department has revealed.
It has also reported a 133% increase in the number of Covid cases reported in the first half of May versus the second half. In the wake of the surge in cases, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has directed the administration to ramp up vaccination, increase testing and keep jumbo facilities ready.
On Tuesday, Mumbai reported 506 fresh infections and zero deaths. With 8,139 tests being conducted, the test positivity rate (TPR) jumped to over 6%. In May, a total of 5,980 cases were reported in the city, whereas 1,827 cases were reported in April. Of the 5,980 cases from May, 1,792 were reported in the first 15 days and 4,188 in the last half. The state reported 711 cases and one death.
With monsoon around the corner, the civic body is expecting a rapid rise in symptomatic cases in the city, authorities said on Tuesday. Municipal commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal gave eight fresh directives to assistant commissioners of all 24 wards, which include increased testing ‘on war footing’, directing testing labs to be proactive and fully-staffed; to push hard for vaccination drive in the 12-18 category and booster doses, and to keep jumbo hospitals adequately staffed and on high-alert.
Of the 506 cases reported on Tuesday, 489 or 97% are asymptomatic, while 17 needed hospitalisation. About 0.37% of the 24,472 beds reserved for Covid are currently occupied.
A senior civic official said, “The municipal commissioner has directed assistant commissioners of all wards to review the status of the ward war rooms to ensure they are fully equipped with staff, medical teams and ambulances, and take daily reviews of the Covid situation in their respective wards and make ‘strong interventions’ where required.”
While all private hospitals have been put on high alert, assistant commissioners have also been directed to visit jumbo hospitals in their jurisdictions to ensure they are monsoon-ready with dewatering pumps, structural stability certification, fire safety mechanisms, housekeeping, catering, paramedical and medical staff, oxygen manufacturing plants and fully equipped with medicines.