Mumbai runs highest ever tests, Covid cases climb above 300

MUMBAI: After 12 days, daily Covid case detections in the city crept past 300 to 319 on Friday, and the fatalities too rose to six for the first time since August 14. Mumbai, incidentally, conducted 56,566 tests in the last 24 hours, the highest since the pandemic began.
In contrast, the state reported a significant dip on Friday in cases and deaths — 4,365 and 105, respectively, taking the total caseload to 64.2 lakh and the death tally to 1.4 lakh. The city’s overall numbers are 7.4 lakh cases and 15,941 deaths.
BMC officials attributed the slight rise to 50-thousand-plus testing over the past two days. On Friday, close to 38,000 of the 56,566 tests were rapid antigen tests and the remaining RT-PCR. On Thursday, 52,482 tests were run.
“We decided to step up testing as a trial run as in future we may have to upscale our daily testing capacity,” said BMC additional commissioner Suresh Kakani. The BMC had been conducting around 35,000 tests during the week, while the number dips during the weekend.
Dr Shashank Joshi, member of the state Covid task force, said: “The daily caseload in Mumbai hasn’t reduced as much as it has in, say, Delhi. This proves the endemicity of the virus in Mumbai and underlines the need to take vaccines and wear a mask.”
State government officials said there has not been any significant rise in cases in the first week since the easing of curbs, but the health department is keeping a close watch. “The main challenge will be during the festivals,” said the official.