Covid-19: Mumbai sees second-highest daily tally, BMC says testing 15,000 now – Times of India

MUMBAI: Maharashtra continued to add fewer than 20,000 cases for the sixth day in a row, but on Friday, it reported an increase in fatalities. A total of 15,591 new cases were reported, taking the total to 14,16,513 in the state, and with 424 fatalities, the total toll climbed to 37,480. Mumbai stepped up the number of tests — to almost 15,000 a day –and recorded 2,440 new cases, which is its second-highest single-day tally so far after 2,635 a couple of days earlier. The city’s tally has now climbed to 1.72 lakh.

The city recorded 42 deaths, according to the BMC update for Friday, taking its overall toll so far to 9,011. Of the 42 victims on Friday, 37 had comorbidities and 31 were above 60 years of age, the update stated. In the last 24 hours the state conducted 84,752 tests, taking total tests so far to 69.6 lakh.
BMC additional municipal commissioner Suresh Kakani said that more cases are detected when more tests are done. “As we conducted almost 15,000 tests, the high daily case tally is not surprising,” he said.
Kakani said that the BMC would distribute 50 smartphones with video call facility in its jumbo centres to allow isolated patients to talk to their relatives. “These smartphones will mostly be available for use from Sunday. We also have placed orders for computer tablets that will help us connect patients and their relatives,” Kakani added. Active cases in Mumbai continue to rise and on Friday, there were 28,602 active cases in Mumbai, third highest after Pune and Thane district.
Even on Friday, Mumbai Metropolitan Region reported the highest number of new cases and deaths. A total of 4,937 cases and 161 deaths were reported from the region, taking its total cases to 4.9 lakh, with 16,110 deaths.
In the meantime, 386 new cases were reported in Thane city and seven deaths, taking the tally of infected people there to 37,573 and the virus toll to 1,010.
The recovery rate in Thane city has remained stable at 87%, with 32,715 patients recovering till date and 3,848 active cases left.
In Kalyan-Dombivli, 309 fresh cases and 12 deaths were reported on Friday, taking the tally of patients there to 43,115, with 838 deaths. The city corporation also reported that 296 patients recovered, taking the total number of recovered patients there to 38,418.
In Navi Mumbai, 362 cases were reported, taking the total Covid-19 count there to 37,418. Of these, 88% have recovered. The NMMC also reported nine deaths, taking its toll to 763. The PCMC areas reported 260 cases and four deaths, taking its tally to 19,751 and toll to 436.
(Inputs by Manoj Badgeri, Pradeep Gupta, Vijay Singh & Umesh K Parida)