Resident Deputy Collector and 35 officials also test positive
The Collector and District Magistrate of Mumbai suburban district, Nidhi Choudhary have tested positive for coronavirus. Besides, at least 35 officials and staffers are also tested positive. Resident Deputy Collector Vikas Naik and Deputy Collector General are also found positive. The Collector and most of the officials are asymptomatic and are home quarantined. Few staffers are admitted to the hospital as they have breathing problems but recovering speedily.
As per the information shared by highly placed sources from the Collector office, Collector madam organized RTPCR test for every official and staffer for safer side and in larger public and officials’ interest. During screening at the Collector office, these officials tested positive and were advised to be isolated immediately. Soon after, entire office premises were sanitized for safety purposes.
“The Omicron wave (in Mumbai) is flattening for sure,” said Shashank Joshi, who is a member of the state government’s task force on Covid. As experts expect different peaks in various cities and regions, the Covid tally in Maharashtra registered a 3% rise over a 24-hour period: cases climbed to 34,424 on Tuesday as against 33,470 the day prior. The reason for cheer in Mumbai stems not only from a dropping daily count but also a drop in the daily positivity rate.
BMC commissioner I S Chahal said, “Mumbai’s positivity is down from 30% to 20 % in the last two days. Daily cases are down from 20,700 to 11,647 in the last four days.” The city’s test positivity rate was 18.75% on Tuesday as compared to 23% on Monday and 28% on Sunday. “The number of tests has not dropped drastically, but the positivity rate has. The overall trend is a flattening of the curve,” said Joshi.
Reiterating that there is “no need to panic”, Chahal said 80% of Covid beds in Mumbai are vacant. “While 851 hospital beds were occupied on Tuesday in one day, 966 were vacated today,” he said.
In the ongoing wave, the city has registered 46 deaths in 22 days, which is an average of two deaths a day, added Chahal. A senior BMC doctor said Mumbai has always registered the week’s highest tally on Wednesdays. “We should see tomorrow’s (Wednesday’s) tally before stating that the decline has begun,” said the doctor.
Editor in Chief : Mewati SItaram
