Mumbai prepared for 10,000 COVID-19 cases a day, positivity rate 12%: BMC

File image: People scramble to board a bus amid the spread of COVID-19 in Mumbai, India on February 25, 2021. (Image: Reuters/Francis Mascarenhas)

The civic authorities in Mumbai are prepared for up to 10,000 cases of COVID-19 per day, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said on March 25, a day after the city recorded over 5,000 new infections.

As per the civic body, even if the per-day case count increases to 10,000, the health infrastructure would be able to sustain the surge in hospitalisations.

The city would require around 21,000 beds for a period of six to eight weeks if "the number of infections in the due course of time increases to 10,000 per day", the BMC said.

The municipal body, however, said it is assuming that "approximately 15 percent" of the new cases would be symptomatic and require hospital beds.

With rise in the number of #COVIDー19 cases in the city, BMC increase the availability of COVID-19 beds from 13,773 to 21,000.

More than 10 lakh vaccinations have been completed and we resolve to increase it to 1 lakh vaccination per day soon.#NaToCorona pic.twitter.com/oEs7EMKAab

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— माझी Mumbai, आपली BMC (@mybmc) March 25, 2021

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The positivity rate in Mumbai stood at 12 percent, out of the 47,000 tests conducted on March 24, the BMC added, further pointing out that "84 percent of the new cases were asymptomatic".

The per-day COVID-19 count has been alarmingly rising in Mumbai. The city had, in January, reported as less as 236 new cases in a day. The count has soared to 5,185 - as per the last update - which is the highest since the outbreak of coronavirus in March last year.