Mumbai sees 875 new cases as tally soars to 13564; BMC aims for '20 days' as doubling rate

As BMC's new commissioner takes charge, Mumbai on Sunday, reported 875 new Coronavirus (COVID-19) cases and 19 deaths on Sunday. The city also saw 212 patients being discharged taking the tally to 3004 recovered. The city's tally currently stands at 13564 cases and 508 fatalities.

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Mumbai: 875 new cases

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BMC's new COVID roadmap

The new BMC commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal has directed officials to focus on ways to increase the doubling rate of the Coronavirus from 10 days to 20 days in the city. Furthermore, the city will be divided into seven different zones, with one IAS officer looking after each zone. Moreover, the BMC plans to quarantine 10 close contacts instead of 3 close contacts of any COVID-19 positive patient. The BMC is aiming to improve the bed management at the public and private hospitals and to increase the isolation centers and isolation beds to over 75,000.

Mumbai sees 772 new COVID-19 cases and 27 deaths; city's case tally stands at 12689

BMC rolls back testing order

The BMC also revoked ex-commissioner Praveen Pardeshi's last order which directed patients to go to a quarantine center to give a swab sample and remain there till test results were out. Moreover, tests were allowed to be done only if routed through BMC's medical health officer. The order was revoked after facing severe backlash from private hospitals and doctors. Pardeshi was transferred as the Additional Chief Secretary in the Urban Development Department. While the BMC or Maharashtra government has not specified any reason for this rejig, the BJP has alleged that the Maharashtra government was simply trying to find a scapegoat.

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Mumbai under containment

The BMC has set up 2646 containment zones throughout Mumbai, even though 321 zones were opened up as they had not reported any new case for past 14 days. 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 883 cases with 27 deaths. With the rise in cases, the government has not lifted the lockdown in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region after May 3 and CM Thackeray has reiterated that trains will not resume operations and that the Army will not be deployed in Mumbai.