Coronavirus count in Mumbai crosses 3,000-mark; 7 more die

Mumbai, Apr 20 (PTI) The tally of coronavirus cases crossed the 3,000-mark in Mumbai on Monday after 155 more people tested positive, while the death toll rose to 138 with the virus killing seven more patients here, the city civic body said.

According to a BMC (Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation) release, the number of COVID-19 cases now stood at 3,090.

The spurt in cases has raised concerns among authorities about the pace of the coronavirus spread as 1,000 new cases were added in just four days. The BMC said 84 more patients have recovered from the disease and discharged from hospitals, taking the number of cured cases to 394.

"Out of the seven persons who died, six had comorbidities (pre-existing illnesses) and one had age-related factors," the civic body said.

Highlighting the reason for the spike in cases, the BMC said samples of 137 patients tested positive in various labs between April 14 and 17, and they were added to the tally as per reports received on Monday.

"These patients are already admitted in isolation wards and undergoing treatment," said the release.

The BMC informed that civic-run Kasturba Hospital is in the process of getting approval from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) for starting plasma therapy to treat COVID-19 patients and a list of eligible donors is being prepared for this.

Convalescent plasma therapy uses antibodies from the blood of cured patients to treat severely-ill COVID-19 patients. BMC-run Nair Hospital will be the centre for extracting plasma from donors (people who have recovered from coronavirus), the release said.