Mumbai’s COVID-19 doubling rate and case fatality rate have reduced, according to the inter-ministerial Central team that visited Mumbai earlier this month.
The team had visited areas such as Worli and Dharavi and held meetings with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials, the Health Minister and the Chief Minister. The team then submitted its initial observations to the State government.
On Wednesday, the BMC said the team observed that the doubling rate, the number of days required for cases to double, reduced between April 17 and 27 in the city. The team also recorded a drop in the case fatality rate, which the BMC has inferred as a slowing down of the pandemic’s pace.
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The doubling rate before April 17 was 8.3 days, which has now increased to 10 days. The national doubling rate is 9.5 days, while in Maharashtra it is 8.9 days. The Central team has credited this fall to the containment of clusters in Mumbai.
However, the wards that reported a high doubling rate earlier this month reported a drop, while certain wards are doubling cases rapidly now. The BMC said, “The Central team had observed that the case fatality rate in Mumbai was lower than the State’s figures. In Maharashtra, 4.3 people die for every 100 COVID-19 patients. In Mumbai, the figure has dropped to 3.9. It was 6.3 until recently.”
Gearing up for MayADVERTISEMENT
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The civic body is relieved at the developments as it prepares for May. Positive cases in the city are expected to hit 70,000 by May 15.
The BMC has so far traced 1.29 lakh contacts of positive patients, of which 21,053 were in the high-risk category. The civic body recorded 1,647 positive cases among the high-risk contacts.
A total of 238 patients tested positive at 204 fever clinics set up across the city. The BMC has conducted 66,000 tests so far, which is 5,071 people per million population, higher than most Indian cities.