Mumbai reported 884 new cases on Saturday, pushing the number of COVID-19 cases in the city to 18,555. In the second-highest single-day jump, 1,606 cases were recorded in the State, taking the tally to 30, 706.
The State also reported the highest number of 67 deaths, taking the fatalities to 1,135. Health officials however said that only 22 of the 67 deaths were recorded in the past 24 hours while the remaining were between April 14 and May 14.
Mumbai reported 41 deaths, pushing the death toll in Maximum City to 696. Civic officials said Mumbai is inching towards a peak now.
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“We are definitely nearing a peak now, but cases will stabilise after that,” additional municipal commissioner Suresh Kakani told
The number of deaths in Mumbai too have seen a spike. Of the 696 deaths, nearly 58%, or 406, have been recorded this month. The 41 deaths reported on Saturday include 26 men and 15 women. Of these, 24 patients had co-morbid conditions likes diabetes, hypertension, asthma etc.
To prepare for the expected surge, the civic body has taken over large open spaces and is converting them into quarantine facilities and modular medical facilities. The latest addition is the iconic Wankhede Stadium. So far, NSCI Dome in Worli, Race Course in Mahalaxmi, MMRDA Grounds in Bandra Kurla Complex, and NESCO in Goregaon have been taken over. The civic-run Nair Hospital which was converted into an exclusive COVID-19 facility commissioned its 750th bed on Saturday and the total number of beds will be increased to 1,000 by end of this month.
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New facilities
The two big COVID care facilities at MMRDA Grounds and NESCO will be commissioned soon. The civic body has shortlisted names of a few doctors and two of them will be selected to head the new modular facilities.
The NESCO facility will have 2,600 beds with 300 ICU beds and 50 dialysis machines. Aaditya Thackeray, MLA from Worli, in a social media post on Saturday said the Goregaon facility will be operational in 48 hours. The facility in BKC will have 1,000 beds initially and another 1,000 will be added in the second phase. It will have 220 high dependency units and many oxygen support beds.
“The BKC facility will be handed over to us in a few days,” said Mr. Kakani adding that one of the facilities may be started first in order to manage the manpower judiciously. “We are most likely to open the BKC facility first. Once it is full, we may open the Goregaon facility,” he said.