Mumbai reported 706 new COVID-19 cases, the lowest daily count in more than two months, taking its tally to 2,59,114 on Monday, the city civic body said.
IMAGE: Vendors holding baskets containing ice cream are seen at a crowded beach amidst the coronavirus outbreak in Mumbai. Photograph: Francis Mascarenhas/Reuters
This was the lowest daily COVID-19 count in nearly 70 days.
Earlier on August 25, the city had reported 587 cases.
According to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s update data, the death toll in the city reached 10,305 with 30 fresh fatalities reported in the past 24-hours.
The number of recovered patients also increased to 2,30,602 with 1,064 more people discharged from hospitals, the civic body said.
The BMC said the city has a recovery rate of 89 per cent.
So far, 15.45 lakh COVID-19 tests have been conducted in the city, it said.
According to the BMC, the average doubling rate of COVID-19 cases in the city is 182 days, while the average growth rate is 0.39 per cent.
The BMC said the number of activecases has fallen by 29 per cent since mid-September 15.
At the same time, the number of sealed buildings in Mumbai has come down by 30 per cent and containment zones by 13 per cent between September 15 and November 1.
The civic body seals a building or declares a containment zone on finding one or more COVID-19 patients there.
It said the rate of infection has fallen steeply, from 1.06 per cent to 0.41 per cent, while the doubling rate has climbed from 66 days to 171 days during this period.
“The death rate for the month of October has been 2.5 per cent and the cumulative death rate has fallen from 4.4 per cent to 3.9 per cent,” said municipal commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal.
He said availability of COVID-19 beds has risen from 4,986 to 7,817 beds, while the number of vacant ICU beds has increased from 225 to 561 now.
Chahal said as against average daily testing of around 6,500 in August, the number has gone up to 14,000-16,000. The discharge of patients has climbed to 89 per cent from 82 per cent.
This Chahal attributed to the My Family My Responsibility awareness campaign launched from September 15 by the Maharashtra government.
Under the campaign, BMC teams have visited 34.9 lakh families twice, out of total number of 35.2 lakh families in Mumbai, to physically check their health status and create awareness about COVID-19 protocols, he said.
“More than 1.5 lakh citizens were fined for not wearing masks or spitting in public (during this period). This month’s target is 5 lakh,” Chahal said.
