Mumbai recorded 922 fresh Covid-19 cases on Sunday, registering the highest daily count since June 4 this year. The city recorded a 21 per cent increase in cases over Saturday, when 757 cases were registered.
Covid cases in the city have been rising at a fast pace over the last week. A total of 490 cases were reported on Wednesday, 602 on Thursday and 683 on Friday. As of Sunday the city has 4,295 active cases.
The daily case positivity rate has also gone up to 2.64 per cent, with BMC conducting 34,819 tests across the city. The positivity rate has been steadily increasing over the past few days. On Saturday, when the BMC conducted 42,427 tests, the positivity rate stood at 1.78 per cent. On Friday, with 40,742 tests, the positivity rate was 1.68 per cent.
According to the daily Covid report, 326 patients were recovered and discharged from hospital on Sunday.
Meanwhile, 1,648 fresh Covid cases were reported in Maharashtra and 918 patients discharged after recovery.
As per the state government’s Covid-19 bulletin, Maharashtra reported 31 new cases of Omicron, of which 27 were from Mumbai, two from Thane, one each in Pune rural and Akola. With this, the state’s Omicron case tally has reached 141.
“Of 31 patients of Omicron, 30 have an international travel history and one is a high-risk contact of an international traveller. Twenty-nine patients are asymptomatic and the remaining two have mild symptoms,” states the report from the state government.
Mumbai has seen an upward trajectory in Covid cases over the last six days. On Sunday the city registered two Covid deaths.
BMC officials said that cases are rising as the number of tests has been increased amid the emergence of Omicron.
The previous highest number of daily cases in Mumbai was reported on June 4, when Mumbai registered 955 cases. Since then, till late December, cases had been declining gradually.
“The cases are rising because testing has increased. Also, we are testing international passengers along with their contacts. This has been reflecting in daily cases showing a rise. Along with daily rise in cases, the positivity rate is also seeing an increase. However, mortality rate has gone down. We are expecting further rises in cases,” said an official from BMC.
Earlier, with Omicron cases going up, the BMC decided to send positive Covid samples of all international passengers for genome sequencing till December 31.
The state government as a precautionary measure has already announced new curbs. The BMC has banned all celebrations and gatherings in the city.
