Mumbai reports over 500 fresh COVID-19 cases for second time in September; four more deaths recorded

Mumbai: Mumbai reported 514 new coronavirus positive cases and four fatalities on Wednesday, taking the tally to 7,36,284 and death toll to 16,037, a civic official said. This is after a gap of a week that the daily COVID-19 case count has once again surged over 500 in the country’s financial capital. Earlier on 8 September, the city had witnessed 530 new infections after more than 48,000 COVID-19 cases. On Tuesday, Mumbai had reported 367 coronavirus infections, the fourth straight day of under-400 cases, and five fatalities. A total of 29,886 tests were conducted in the last 24-hours, which took the cumulative test count to 97,99,839. This month’s lowest number of 28,498 daily COVID-19 tests were conducted in the city on Tuesday, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) official said. There are 4, 026 active infection cases in Mumbai after 604 patients recovered and discharged from hospitals during the day, taking the recovery count to 7,13,174. A total of 37 buildings have been sealed in Mumbai to prevent the spread of the virus, although there is no containment zones in slums and chawls since mid-August. The Mumbai civic body seals buildings or declares containment zones, if at least five patients test positive for the infection at a time. According to the BMC, Mumbai’s average recovery rate is at 97 percent, while the average doubling rate has dipped to 1,277 days. The average growth rate of cases is 0.6 per cent for the period between September 8 and 14, the official said. This year, Mumbai had reported the highest 11,163 daily cases on 4 April, while the most number of deaths at 90 were recorded on 1 May during the second wave of the pandemic.