Mumbai's COVID recovery crosses 20 lakh mark; growth rate dips below 1% as Metro resumes

Continuing its steady growth in Coronavirus (COVID-19) cases, Mumbai on Wednesday, reported 2211 new cases and 48 new deaths. The city also saw a recovery surge with 3370 patients cured in past 24 hours taking the tally to 2,01,497. Mumbai is now the fifth-worst hit district in the nation with 2,34,606 cases of which 20,799 cases are active and 9552 fatalities.

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Mumbai: 2211 new COVID cases

Mumbai's recovery rate has risen to 85% now while its growth rise has slowed to 0.95%. BMC reported that 12,93,994 samples have been tested till date with a 17.96% positivity rate. With the increasing number of cases, BMC reported that 122 out of 1154 ventilator beds are vacant, while 273 out of 1998 ICU beds are vacant.

After govt approval, Mumbai Metro announces resumption of passenger services from Oct 19

Mumbai metro to resume services

Earlier in the day, Mumbai Metro announced that it will re-start passenger operations from Monday, October 19 at 8.30 am. This development comes after the Maharashtra government gave a green signal to Metro rail services with effect from October 15. Safety inspections and trial runs have already been initiated. On this occasion, the Mumbai Metro expressed gratitude to the Maha Vikas Aghadi government. 

While the Ministry of Home Affairs has allowed the resumption of Metro Rail services in a graded manner from September 7 as a part of the Unlock 4 guidelines, Maharashtra had retained the restrictions. This was done in the wake of rising COVID-19 cases in the state. Currently, there are 2,05,884 active novel coronavirus cases in Maharashtra while 12,97,252 patients have been discharged and 40,701 fatalities have been reported. 

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Mumbai's COVID crisis

With Maharashtra extending its lockdown, the BMC has increased its containment zones to 650, while over 9799 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 53 days, while Masjid is the least affected ward with a doubling rate at 116 days. Overall, Mumbai's doubling rate at 73 days is higher than the national average of 60 days.

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