BJP accuses BMC of manipulating COVID-19 stats in Mumbai on Maharashtra CMO's instructions

On Monday, BJP alleged that the BMC Commissioner is manipulating the figures pertaining to COVID-19 cases and deaths in Mumbai on the instructions from the Chief Minister's Office. Earlier in the day, BJP MLA Ashish Shelar cited the findings of Thyrocare Technologies Limited, a private laboratory to claim that a large percentage of people in former COVID-19 hotspots had developed antibodies. Out of the 8,376 samples collected by Thyrocare across the city between July 3 and August 7, 28.89% were detected with antibodies.

While the prevalence of antibodies was relatively lower in certain suburbs and south Mumbai, antibodies were reportedly detected in over 40% of the people living in areas such as Govandi, Dharavi, Worli, etc. Alleging that many Mumbai residents were cured on their own, Shelar urged the civic body to conduct one lakh antibody tests. According to him, this shall reveal the truth of COVID-19 spread and the effectiveness of the lockdown measures.

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Mumbai's COVID-19 tally surges to 1.23 lakh

With 1,066 persons testing positive for the novel coronavirus in Mumbai on Sunday, August 9, the city's COVID-19 tally surged to 1,23,397. At present, there are 19,718 active COVID-19 cases in the city. The number of recovered soared to 96,586 after 1232 patients were discharged in the day. Meanwhile, 48 COVID-19 deaths were reported on August 9, propelling Mumbai's fatality toll to 6,796. 36 of the aforesaid deceased had co-morbidities.

5,99,791 COVID-19 tests have been conducted in various laboratories across Mumbai till August 8. The number of COVID-19 cases in the city grew at a rate of 0.81% from August 2-August 8. As of August 8, 4,056 CCC2 beds out of the total capacity of 23,377 beds are occupied. The number of oxygen beds, ventilator beds, and ICU beds in Mumbai stands at 10,600, 1,074, and 1,786 respectively. 

While there are 589 active containment zones currently, 5,384 buildings have been sealed. 6,213 high-risk contacts have been traced in the last 24 hours. At present, 3,934 high-risk contacts are admitted to Corona Care Centres 1. The patient doubling rate in the city is 86 days. The recovery rate of the Mumbai district remains constant at 78%. 

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