As tests increase, Covid cases tick up in Mumbai, positivity still under 1%

MUMBAI: Daily case detections and deaths showed an upward tick in the state as well as the city on Wednesday.
After reporting under-4,500 cases for the last two days, Maharashtra listed 5,132 cases and 158 deaths, including five in Mumbai. The city added 285 patients testing positive for Covid as against 196 on Tuesday. The authorities are keep a watch on the numbers since train travel and other relaxations were granted since Sunday.
In KEM Hospital in Parel, the Covid ward has only 10 patients and there is no admission on some days. “The positivity rate in KEM is below 1% and the general observation is that the severity of Covid is lesser now,” said KEM Hospital dean Dr Hemant Deshmukh. The hospital, reserved for severe patients, used to have over 500 Covid patients at any given time during the second wave.
Across Mumbai, the daily positivity rate is 0.7%. After two days of conducting fewer than 35,000 tests daily, the BMC ran over 38,703 tests in a single day. The active cases in the city are below 3,000.
The total caseload in the state rose to 64.1 lakh and deaths touched 1.4 lakh, of which 7.4 lakh cases and 15,930 deaths were in Mumbai.
At the state level, 15 districts have less than 100 active cases. Of them, six — Dhule, Washim, Yavatmal, Bhandara, Wardha, and Gondia — have less than 10. Officials said the positivity rate of Kolhapur and Ratnagiri have dropped below the state’s average weekly positivity rate.
Eye on third wave, govt to spend Rs 22.5 crore on 25 lakh RAT test kits
The public health department is spending Rs 22.5 crore to procure 25 lakh Rapid Antigen Test kits, reports Prafulla Marpakwar. “Rapid Antigen Test will be useful for treatment as well as prevention of Covid-19,” said its order. The funds have been sanctioned by the relief and rehabilitation department.
Former medical education director T P Lahane did not rule out a third wave. “If we study the situation across the world, the possibility of a third wave is not ruled out. However, it will be difficult to predict its intensity,” he said.
“In certain countries, the third wave hit areas where the number of Covid patients was less than 1%. We do not know if a similar situation will be seen in Maharashtra. Currently, we have 19 districts where the number of patients is less than 1%, while in thhe remaining districts, the percentage ranges between 2-2.5%,” said Lahane.