While the BMC health department is busy dealing with the measles outbreak, it had a reason to smile, as the daily Covid-19 caseload in Mumbai dropped to eight on Saturday – the lowest since March 27, 2020. The first confirmed cases of Covid-19 was reported in the state on March 9, 2020. On March 11, a couple from Andheri had became the first confirmed Covid-19 patients in Mumbai. Soon, the virus started spreading across the state. On March 27, six cases were recorded in Mumbai – it was the last time when daily cases were recorded in single digit in the city till Saturday. Of the eight patients from Saturday, six were asymptomatic and the other two required hospitalisation. “We have heaved a sigh of relief. We have come a long way from arranging for beds for the infected, turning hospitals into dedicated Covid care centres. Finally, after March 2020, we recorded a single digit daily caseload on Saturday,” said Dr Mangala Gomare, the executive health officer, BMC. Till Saturday, the city had recorded 11,54,779 cases and 19,743 patients had succumbed to the infection. Among the 549 ventilator beds preserved for Covid-19 patients at present, five are occupied on Saturday. Thirteen patients are on ICU. “In the last month, there has been a drop in the pandemic curve. We haven’t noticed any spike despite the initial speculation that the new sub-variants of Omicron might increase the cases,” said Gomare. The test positivity rate (TPR) – the number of positive cases compared to the number of tests conducted – has gone down below 1 per cent. At present, the city has only 149 active cases. However, Gomare cautioned people, especially those living with severe comorbidities, as the cases of viral infection tend to surge in winter. “As we are already witnessing measles outbreak, we request people with severe health issues to be cautious and take Covid-19 booster shots,” she added. The state, meanwhile, reported 125 Covid-19 cases and one death on Saturday. Maharashtra now has 795 active cases. Also, the number of confirmed measles cases has increased to 189 across the state. While 73 children are in hospital, nine are on oxygen support and two on ventilator.
