MUMBAI: The city, once a Covid-19 hotspot, reported 706 new cases on Monday, its lowest addition in 69 days. The last time Mumbai had reported fewer cases was 587 on August 25.
The city’s tally touched 2,59,111, while the death toll reached 10,348 with the addition of 30 fatalities.
Continuing with the trend of a drastic dip in new Covid-19 cases on Monday, a phenomenon attributed to lower levels of testing over the weekend, the state added only 4,009 cases, its lowest in a week. The case tally has reached 16,87,784. There were 104 deaths, taking the toll to 44,128.
The last time the state had added fewer than 4,009 cases was 3,890 on June 2. In fact, Kerala reported more cases 4,138 than the state on Monday.
The death rate in the city for October was 2.5% and the cumulative death rate fell from 4.4% to 3.9%, said municipal commissioner I S Chahal.
He said that due to implementation of the ‘My Family My Responsibility’ Campaign since September 15, the active cases had fallen by 29%.
“The rate of infection has fallen steeply from 1.06% to 0.41%,” he said, adding that the doubling rate had climbed from 66 days to 171 days.
“The total number of critical patients in hospitals have dropped by 24%, while the number of vacant ICU beds has risen from 225 to 561 beds,” he said.
While experts have been cautioning about a second wave with the current unlocking measures coinciding with Diwali and a dip in temperatures, health minister Rajesh Tope said it was unlikely that the state would see a second wave.
“But in case the numbers do increase, the state is prepared to handle the surge,” he said.
He said that according to a presentation made by the health secretary, the a second wave in the country and the state was unlikely.
“However, we must all continue with maintaining social distancing, wearing a mask and even washing our hands regularly,” Tope said.
He said that people who were stepping out ahead of the festive season must follow all the necessary protocols. On whether places of worship would open in the state, Tope said that in the current situation a decision on these would be taken by chief minister Uddhav Thackeray after Diwali.
The Mumbai circle remained the biggest contributor of cases. It added 1378 cases on Monday and 40 deaths. It was followed by Pune and Nashik circles, which reported 767 and 682 cases, respectively.
On Monday, a little over 40,000 tests were carried out compared to the daily average of 65,000.
Within the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, Kalyan-Dombivli reported 88 new cases and two deaths, taking the tally to 50,282, including 1,008 deaths. The recovery rate was 94.95 % with 1,527 patients still undergoing treatment.
In Thane city, 156 new cases were reported, taking the tally to 46,998, while three deaths took the toll to 1,158. The recovery rate was 93.3% on Monday with 1,986 active cases.
The overall state recovery rate crossed 90% with 15.24 lakh discharges, whereas the city recovery rate was around 89%.
( With inputs from Manoj Badgeri & Pradeep Gupta)