Mumbai's doubling rate slows to 25 days with 1383 new COVID cases; city tally at 56,740

A day after Maharashtra's Coronavirus (COVID-19) tally crossed the 1 lakh mark, its capital - Mumbai reported 1383 new cases and 69 new deaths on Saturday. The city also saw 795 new recoveries taking its tally to 25,947. Mumbai now has 56,740 cases and 2111 fatalities.

Maharashtra Government caps maximum price for COVID-19 tests, home visit cost also reduced

Mumbai: 1383 new cases

The city's civic body - BMC has also introduced a new technique to check the adequate level of antibodies for treating patients using convalescent plasma therapy. The city's three hospitals Kasturba hospital, Nair hospital and KEM hospital which have been selected by ICMR for plasma trials, are using the technique called 'Chemiluminescent Immunoassay' (CLIA) to check anti-bodies' levels. BMC states that CLIA gives an index of an adequate level of anti-bodies, thus donors having those levels of antibodies only, will be selected for plasma extraction. Till date, 31 plasma samples have been collected, while 13 people have recieved plasma therapy.

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Maharashtra caps testing price at Rs 2200

Maharashtra government, earlier in the day,  capped the maximum price for COVID-19 tests (RT-PCR) at Rs 2200. Moreover, the maximum price for testing by collecting samples from home has been capped at Rs 2800. Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) had capped the maximum testing price at Rs 4500 but had then removed the all-India cap. Previously, the Tamil Nadu government capped the cost of testing to ₹3,000  and an additional Rs 500 for a home visit.

Maharashtra reports 3,427 COVID-19 cases on Saturday; total tally propels to 1,04,568

Maharashtra's COVID crisis

Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray has clarified that the state government had not re-announced the lockdown. Moreover, to ease the burden on the police, Maharashtra Minister Rajesh Tope has announced a change in denotification of a COVID-19 containment zone - if no new infected patient is found there for 14 days in a row instead of the earlier protocol of 28 days. The Centre has asked the state to add additional ICU beds as 90% of the Mumbai's ICU beds were filled. The BMC chief has assured that 300 beds will be added within a week.

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The BMC has increased its containment zones to 810, while over 4,627 buildings and chawls have been sealed and being self-managed by the society. While Dharavi is Mumbai's most densely populated area and has been under severe scrutiny - with 2030 cases and 77 deaths, recent BMC report shows Borivali as the most affected place with the doubling rate at 12 days. Overall, Mumbai's doubling rate at 25 days is higher than national average of 17.4 days.