Mumbai recorded 419 fresh cases on Tuesday, the second-highest single-day jump, taking its tally to 3,451, while 12 new fatalities — the highest since last week — took the death toll to 151. Nearly 66% of the State’s cases and 60% of the deaths are from Mumbai.
Among the 12 victims, three men — aged 35, 46 and 59 — had no underlying conditions, while the remaining had co-morbidities like diabetes and hypertension. The city’s case fatality rate now stands at 4.3%. Since last week, the number of deaths had dipped to single digits after the city reported a maximum of 16 deaths on April 12. The dip has been attributed to the civic body carrying out audits before labelling COVID-19 as the cause for deaths.
To reduce mortality, the civic body is also trying to reduce the burden of patients on dedicated COVID-19 hospitals that are equipped with intensive care units and specialist doctors. All asymptomatic patients are being admitted to COVID Care Centres, manned by a paramedic and a doctor. Those with mild symptoms are admitted to health centres. Only those who are at high risk and in need of critical care are being referred to dedicated COVID-19 hospitals.
Meanwhile, Kasturba Hospital discharged its 100th patient on Tuesday. Of the patients discharged so far, 24 are senior citizens and seven are children below 10 years. The city’s recovery rate is nearly 13% with 442 people being discharged from hospitals since the outbreak hit the city on March 11. Experts have said other States have a better recovery rate.
5 cases in Navi Mumbai
The Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) on Tuesday recorded five positive cases, while the Panvel Municipal Corporation (PMC) recorded two positive cases. NMMC now has 74 positive cases. “We received 284 reports of the high-risk contacts, of which 279 have returned negative. The percentage of positive cases is 2%. Of the five cases, three are the high-risk contacts of a bank manager from Chembur, while the fourth is a contact of a resident of Karave village who worked as a ward boy at a TB hopsital in Sewri,” said NMMC Commissioner Annasaheb Misal said. The fifth case is of a 26-year-old from Nosil Naka at Arjun wadi in Ghansoli. According to NMMC officials, his contact tracing has not been done yet as he claims to have not stepped outside his home for the past one month. Till now, 1,206 people under NMMC have been tested, of which 903 were found negative and reports of 229 are awaited. Of the 74 cases, 23 have recovered.
Under PMC, of the positive cases, one is a police personnel who used to travel daily from Kharghar to Bandra and another is a 59-year-old from Kamothe with co-morbidities. On Monday, a doctor and a patient at Ashtavinayak Hospital in Khanda Colony tested positive and their close contacts were tested. A person from Kalamboli who had visited the hospital tested positive. Till now, PMC has reported 39 positive cases, of which 13 have recovered and one has died. Till now, 477 people have been tested, of which 422 tested negative and 16 reports are pending.
(With inputs from Tanvi Deshpande & Raina Assainar)
