Mumbai records 1,044 cases; 32 die

City part of ICMR sero-surveillance study

Mumbai recorded 1,044 COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, pushing its tally to 34,108. The city also recorded 32 more fatalities, taking the death toll to 1,097.

Of the latest victims, 19 were men and 13 were women, and as many as 15 patients had co-morbidities like diabetes, hypertension and asthma.

Lowest tally in Dharavi

Dharavi, meanwhile, reported one of its lowest case increases in a single day so far, reporting 18 new cases. The area has reported 1,639 cases so far. The area had posted its lowest increase of 16 cases on April 18.

Among the new patients is a 17-year-old girl from Matunga labour camp. Cases were also reported from LBS Nagar, Azad Nagar, Jai Bhavani Society, 90 Feet Road, Mukund Nagar, PMGP Colony and Kumbharwada.

Besides, a patient who had tested positive earlier passed away, pushing the death toll to 61. Of the 1,639 cases, only 964 cases are active while 675 people have been discharged. G North ward has a total of 2,300 cases so far, the highest in Mumbai. Of these, 791 people have been given discharge.

Mumbai has been shortlisted as one of the sites for the sero-surveillance study by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) to gauge the spread of the infection within the community. The ICMR is carrying out the study in 60 districts, including 10 cities which are hotspots.

Five clusters in Mumbai, including Kandivali (East), Kandivali (West), Deonar, Dharavi and Kurla-Sakinaka, have been selected for the study. Medical officers will randomly select households and after taking the consent and necessary details, samples of blood will be collected from participants above the age of 18. Antibody tests will be carried out on the blood samples to look for Immunoglobulin G (IgG), the presence of which indicates an old infection. A total of 500 individuals will be included in the survey from the five clusters.

“The objective is to estimate and monitor the trend of sero-prevalence for SARS-CoV-2 infection in high burden cities. It will determine the socio-demographic risk factors for the infection and help understand the geographical spread of the infection in the general population and hotspot cities. This will be a baseline survey and there will be subsequent rounds,” said a media release from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. The study will be carried out by the ICMR’s National Institute of Immuno-Haematology and supported by teams from the World Health Organization.

Infant goes home

A one-month-old baby went home after recovering from COVID-19 from Sion hospital. The doctors and nurses got together to cheer for the baby and her mother as they walked out of the hospital. On Wednesday, 240 patients were discharged from hospitals in the city. Altogether, 9,054 patients have recovered and gone home.

79 cases in Navi Mumbai

Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation reported 79 cases on Wednesday, taking its tally to 1,853. Five deaths took its toll to 59. As many as 34 patients were reported to have recovered, the total number of recoveries are now 840 with 954 active cases. The positive cases include a 15-month-old baby girl from Belapur, a 10-year-old boy from Sanpada and Juinagar, and a one-year-old boy from Vashi.

Of the 79 cases, 21 are from Turbhe, 12 each from Nerul and Ghansoli, 11 from Koparkhairane, nine from Vashi, seven from Belapur and six from Airoli. While 19,326 people have finished their quarantine period, 8,753 are currently home quarantined. A total of 10,773 people have been tested till now, of which 8,021 have been found to be negative and 899 reports are pending.

Panvel Municipal Corporation has reported 18 new cases and 18 recoveries, taking its tally to 419 and total recoveries to 252. With one death in Kharghar, the death toll has gone up to 19.

Nine cases are from Kamothe, four from New Panvel, three from Kharghar and two from Kalamobli. There are currently 148 active cases under the Panvel Municipal Corporation.

Panvel rural reported 10 new cases, taking its total to 320 cases. Two deaths, one each from Usarli and Karanjade, were also reported.

(Inputs from Tanvi Deshpande, Raina Assainar)