Mumbai has 52 new cases; 14 from tests in March

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By Saturday evening, Mumbai recorded another 52 cases of COVID-19, taking its tally to 330. A report released by the civic administration on April 4, showed that four deaths were recorded on Friday, and listed on Saturday, taking the death toll to 22. However, of the 52 new cases, 14 were from private labs, conducted between March 27 and March 31, the results of which were made available on Saturday. The remaining 38 were registered by the BMC.

Civic officials said that the private labs concerned have conducted the contact tracing of the positive cases and appropriate action has been taken. Further, the Maharashtra state health officials said that till date, there have been 635 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the state and the death toll has gone up to 32.

Of the four deaths reported, one was a 53-year-old-male patient, with a history of asthma who was admitted to KEM hospital on April 1, with complaints of fever and breathlessness. He was declared dead on April 3, due to severe acute respiratory illness. Another KEM patient, a 67-year-old male, was admitted on April 2 with complaints of fever and breathlessness, and a history of diabetes. He died on April 3 due to respiratory failure, said health department officials.

One was a female patient, aged 43, admitted at Nair Hospital on April 2 with fever, cough, breathlessness and with a history of ischemic heart disease, diabetes and chronic lung disease. A 70-year-old male admitted to KEM Hospital on April 3, died on the same day due to respiratory failure. A civic health department official said, "Out of four deaths, three patients had comorbidities and one had other age-related risk factors."

The civic body claimed that more than nine lakh people had been surveyed and screened in Mumbai. All the high-risk contacts, residing in dense areas had been shifted to lodges and hotels. Mumbai labs (public and private) have so far conducted 10,000 COVID-19 tests - more than any city or the state, said officials.

Meanwhile, there were reports that the civic hospital staff were protesting outside Kandivli's Shatabdi and Santa Cruz's VN Desai hospitals owing to lack of safety equipment. The staff of the Kandivli-based hospital was also tested and the reports have come negative, said civic health department officials, adding that post the protests, more protective gear has been given.

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