Mumbai reports over 100 Covid-19 cases, TPR shoots up to 1.4%

Mumbai: In a first since March 1, Mumbai recorded over 100 fresh Covid-19 cases on Tuesday. The addition of 102 cases pushed the overall case tally to 10,58,511. No deaths were reported on Tuesday and the toll remained at 19,562.

Meanwhile, with 7,240 tests done in the past 24 hours, the daily Test Positivity Rate (TPR) stood at 1.4% on Tuesday. This is the second time this month that the TPR has exceeded the 1% mark. Earlier on April 20, the city had a TPR of 1.03%.

Suresh Kakani, additional municipal commissioner and in charge of public health in BMC, said that the upturn in cases was anticipated as there were no restrictions in the city.

“Many of the cases that were reported on Tuesday are backlog cases from last weekend, that were not cleared. The numbers don’t indicate a consistent rise, the rate of hospitalisation is below 1% and the mortality rate in Mumbai is also negligible so these figures shouldn’t cause any concern as of now, however, Mumbaikars must continue to follow the Covid-19 appropriate behaviour,” Kakani said.

Dr Shashank Joshi, a member of the Maharashtra Covid-19 task force, said that the surge in cases is likely due to the Omicron variant, which is still prevalent in Mumbai.

“We shouldn’t forget that the virus is still there and we have to learn to live with it by following all the necessary precautions and masking behaviour. The current spread is caused mainly due to community transmission that is the cause for not following the rules,” said Dr Joshi.

At present, Mumbai has 549 active cases and the hospitalization rate stands at 0.07%. Also, 99 out of all the 102 fresh infections that were reported on Tuesday were asymptomatic.

The recovery rate in Mumbai is 98% and a total of 85 patients had recovered and were discharged in the past 24 hours.