Mumbai reports 309 new COVID-19 cases and 10 deaths in 24 hours, city tally at 3754

Continued fluctuation in the number of Coronavirus (COVID-19) cases was seen in Mumbai on Wednesday, as BMC reported 309 new cases with 10 deaths. The civic body mentioned that of the 309 patients, 127 patients were tested positive in various lab between April 17 and April 19 and reports were received today. Mumbai currently tops the COVID tally with 3754 cases and 160 deaths and has been allowed to conduct plasma therapy clinical trials to treat critical COVID patients.

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Mumbai: 309 new cases

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BMC revises testing criteria

Last week, BMC revised COVID-19 testing criteria, differing from the ICMR guidelines to 'avoid unnecessary testing of asymptomatic persons'. The new guidelines exclude asymptomatic high-risk persons from testing but quarantines them. Swabs will be taken only if the asymptomatic person develops symptoms within the 14 days of quarantine. Moreover, high-risk contacts may be tested on the between 5th & 14th day of quarantine after 'careful observation', states the BMC - inspite CM Thackeray claiming 70 to 75% of the patients had very mild or no symptoms.

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Mumbai under containment

BMC has set up 861 containment zones throughout Mumbai since the rise in the number of cases. With over 1 million people living in five square kilometer area, Dharavi is Mumbai's most densely populated area and has been under severe scrutiny - recording 189 cases with 12 deaths. The Centre's inter-ministerial team has visited several areas of Mumbai's containment zones and has recommended adding more isolation beds as the number cases rise in Mumbai. 

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Maharashtra partially opens 'orange & green zones'

On Sunday, CM Uddhav Thackeray announced that the state government will partially resumption of economic activities from April 20 in Green and Orange zones. However, he clarified that the movement of workers and inter-district travel will not be allowed to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus. The government also had to rollback the partial relaxation in Pune and Mumbai as COVID cases soared. The state tally now stands at 5649 with 269 deaths.