Mumbai sees 537 new COVID cases; in a first- one ward slows doubling rate to 1048 days

 As India reported 6 cases of the new UK variant of the Coronavirus (COVID-19), Mumbai on Tuesday, reported 537 new cases and six new casualties. The city's recoveries rose to 2,71,870 with 486 new patients cured in past 24 hours. Mumbai's tally rose to 2,92,008 with 8186 active cases and 11,094 fatalities.

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Mumbai: 537 new cases

Mumbai's recovery rate has risen to 93% now while its growth rise has slowed to 0.21%. BMC reported that 23,25,363 samples have been tested till date with a 12.53% positivity rate. With the increasing number of cases, BMC reported that 537 out of 1137 ventilator beds are vacant, while 1026 out of 1886 ICU beds are vacant, till date.

Mumbai: Schools & Colleges to remain closed till January 15 amid new COVID-19 strain scare

All schools shut till Jan 15

The city's civic body - the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has directed all school and colleges to remain shut till January 15, 2021, as a safety measure. While several districts in Maharashtra have allowed the reopening of schools for students from Class 9 -12, Mumbai, Nashik and Thane continues to impose the restriction. This measure has been taken after 6 samples of UK returnees tested positive for the new strain in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Pune.

The BMC has already announced that travellers from UK, Europe, Middle East, and South Africa would be kept under institutional quarantine for 14 days. RT-PCR tests for the individuals would be conducted only on the 7th day from their day or arrival at the passenger's cost. If the report is found negative, the passenger would be allowed to be discharged with a home quarantine stamp and an undertaking to remain under home isolation for the next seven days. If found positive, the passenger would be moved to a COVID-19 Hospital. Moreover, the Maharashtra government has imposed a night curfew in all cities from December 22 to January 5, 2021 to tackle the Christmas-New Year case rise.

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Mumbai COVID crisis

With Maharashtra extending its lockdown, the BMC has limited its containment zones to 290, while over 2233 buildings and chawls have been sealed and are being self-managed by the society. BMC has tweaked its containment zones criteria mandating sealing of buildings that have 10 or more cases in 2 or more floors. The recent BMC report shows Mulund as the most affected place with the doubling rate at 257 days, while Kalbadevi is the least affected ward with a doubling rate at 1048 days. Overall, Mumbai's doubling rate at 365 days is higher than the national average of 260 days.

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