NMMC does 5,000 tests daily in anticipation of 4th wave

Even as the average daily positive cases come down to three, NMMC continues to do an average of 5,000 tests to know early rise in cases in anticipation of a fourth wave of Covid

AS PER THE RECONCILED FIGURES ON SATURDAY EVENING THE ACTIVE PATIENTS ARE NOW 38, STILL HIGHEST IN THE DISTRICT

NAVI MUMBAI: Even as the per day positive cases of Covid in Navi Mumbai have come down to an average of three cases per day, Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) continues to do an average testing of 5,000 to know early rise in cases in anticipation of a fourth wave.

“We plan to continue with 5,000 average testing in order to catch an early trend change, if at all it happens. The positivity rate is 0.01%. We are still doing testing in buildings, random testing at market places, railway stations and APMC market,” NMMC commissioner, Abhijit Bangar, said.

As per the reconciled figures on Saturday evening, the active patients are 38, the highest in the district.

Meanwhile, NMMC recently noticed that even as the positive cases per day have come down drastically, the active patients recorded by the corporation remains to be the highest in Thane district with 78 of them while the other corporations are in the range of one to 15.

Bangar said, “With Covid cases going down, there was ignorance on the part of reporting the recovered cases. I have asked each Urban Primary Health Centre (UPHC) to update the recoveries. In a day or two, the active patients reported would be low and actual. Also, we do not have any patient currently in the ward, ICU or even on an oxygen bed.”

Meanwhile, an official from the health department said, “When the staff makes calls to patients 10 days after they were found to be positive to check on their recovery, most of them do not answer the call. When the person doesn’t answer the call, we maintain the record as active instead of changing it as ‘recovered’. The staff have been asked to keep making calls till it is answered and confirmed that they are recovered to maintain the actual recovery report.”

The average positive cases last week were six, which have now come down to three. The doubling rate, which was 30,569 last week, is now 45,859. The precaution doses for 18-60 years will be started from April 10, 2022 at private Covid vaccination centres. The administration of precaution dose will be homologous precaution dose as per the instructions and the centres can charge up to ₹150 only per dose as service charge. It has also been instructed that no offline vaccination should be conducted and all vaccination to be registered in CoWIN app.

In Navi Mumbai, a total of 13.66 lakh are vaccinated with the first dose and 11.83 lakh with both the doses.

HT FILE PHOTO Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation continues to do, on an average, 5,000 tests in anticipation of Covid 4th wave.