Mumbai records lowest one-day COVID tally in over 3 months with 700 cases; 8776 tests done

In a heartening development, Mumbai recorded just 700 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, July 28- which is lowest single-day tally in over three months. This is a steep fall from Monday that h witnessed 1033 persons testing positive for vel coronavirus. Revealing this information, Maharashtra Environment, Tourism and Protocol Minister Aitya Thackeray ded that highest ever COVID-19 testing was also conducted on Tuesday with 8776 samples being tested for vel coronavirus in city. Describing this as a major relief, Thackeray cautioned against letting guard down.

According to Maharashtra CM's son, testing would be furr ramped up in Mumbai as a result of  BMC's initiative. He also mentioned that Maharashtra's capital was only city to allow citizens to "test at will". Moreover, he ted that this successful model is also being implemented in Mumbai Metropolitan Region, leing to testing facilities being enhanced. 

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Mission Universal Testing

Amid scepticism over level of COVID-19 testing in Mumbai, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation on June 24 launched 'Mission Universal Testing'. BMC Commissioner Iqbal Chahal gave instructions in this regard to concerned officials. This initiative was aimed to trace, test, and provide medical treatment to citizens in order to control spre of COVID-19. As a part of this initiative, BMC acquired 1 lakh antigen testing kits which would be used across all Municipal hospitals, government hospitals, and COVID Care Centres.

civic body requested 35 large private hospitals across Mumbai Municipal Region to purchase and use se government-approved antigen testing kits. Senior citizens above of 70 were permitted to get mselves tested at home without a doctor's prescription. ditionally, BMC instructed corporate houses and private companies to procure rapid testing kits developed by Abbott and Rache to test ir employees. 

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BMC liberalizes testing rms

In ar landmark move, BMC in July decided that an individual can get himself tested without a doctor's prescription. Labs were empowered to conduct RT-PCR tests as per ICMR guidelines. Home swab collection for COVID-19 testing was permitted. Direct high-risk contacts of a confirmed case and an asymptomatic patient with co-morbidities can be tested between day 5 and day 10. Furrmore, rapid antigen tests can be done in high-risk groups seeking hospitalization such as patients undergoing chemorapy, transplant patients, patients with a malignant disease etc. 

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