‘2.12 lakh tests conducted, 20.40% positive’

A total of 2.12 lakh Covid-19 tests have been conducted in the city so far, with 20.40% of them positive, according to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).

Percentage positivity is the number of people testing positive from among the total number of tests conducted The positivity percentage for the city has doubled over the past month. On May 3, the figure was 8.74%, with 93,500 tests and 8,172 positive patients. It was 11.6% on May 13, when the number of tests was 1.27 lakh and Covid-19 patients in the city was 14,781. The percentage was 16.5 on May 21, when Mumbai had conducted 1.53 lakh tests and the case count was 25,317. As of Friday, the city has recorded 46,080 cases.

Ashwini Bhide, additional municipal commissioner, tweeted on Thursday night: “Almost 19 private labs have been involved in testing by @mybmc. That is how Mumbai has done 2.12 lakh tests so far, which makes it 16,304 tests per million population, highest in India.”

The high positivity percentage is being attributed to targeted testing and early identification of suspected Covid-19 persons. A senior civic officer said, “It indicates that we are targeting the right pool of individuals. This also means we are able to remove them from the community at the right time due to early identification. Our contact-tracing efforts have been fruitful.”

As of June 3, BMC has traced a total of 8.45 lakh contacts, of which 1.92 lakh were at high risk. While 3.52 lakh are presently in home quarantine, 27,891 are in BMC’S institutional quarantine facilities.