Mumbai's Covid-19 cases' doubling rate improves to 50 days

Nearly four months into the deadly Covid-19 pandemic, Mumbai's doubling rate of novel coronavirus cases has improved to 50 days. The recovery rate stand at 70 percent, one of the best in India.

This is a major shot in the arm of Maharashtra government and BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) - and comes just a couple of days after the WHO praised the Dharavi model of combating Covid-19.

Also read — WHO lauds Dharavi model to fight Covid-19

The first Covid-19 positive case in Mumbai was reported on March 11 and the first death on March 17.

As on July 12, the total number of Covid-19 patients stood at 92,720 while deaths at 5,285. The total active patients stood at 22,556. The total number of tests conducted in Mumbai so far is 3,91,222.

"After our open testing policy - the only city in India to do so - our testing has gone up from 4,000 to 6,800 tests per day, but our total number of Covid-19 positive cases have come down from 1,400 to 1,200 per day now," according to municipal commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal.

Of these 1,200 positive cases, the symptomatic cases are less than 200, so the BMC needs only 200 beds daily.

Even the BMC's discharge rate now stands at 70 percent, and on Sunday, after allotting beds to all patients, there were still 7,000 Covid-19 beds and 250 ICU vacant.