MUMBAI: The state reported a dip in Covid cases and deaths on Saturday.
However, it continued to add a large number of old deaths to the cumulative toll due to the ongoing reconciliation exercise for the 25th day in a row.
The state added 10,697 cases and 360 fatalities on Saturday but added 1,606 old deaths, taking the total caseload to 58.9 lakh, and the state’s total toll touched 1,08,333.
The state had added 12,989 deaths in the last 12 days, of which 9,229 deaths were added as part of the reconciliation exercise.
The state health department had on Friday defended itself after widespread criticism of addition of old deaths and said that it was being transparent with data In Mumbai, with the relaxing of restrictions leading to more crowds on the roads, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has been able to carry out more rapid antigen tests at crowded places such as markets.
The BMC update on Saturday said that 29,174 tests were conducted in a 24-hour period, leading to 749 detections.
The number of deaths in the city continued to dip, with 18 deaths registered on Saturday and the city’s pandemic toll climbing to 15,097 so far.
A BMC official said the BMC’s decision to allow Mumbai to stay with Level 3 restrictions is a reflection of the lack of confidence in the people’s ability to observe Covid-appropriate behaviour.
“People have a tendency to not wear a mask or observe social distancing,” the official said.
The test positivity continued below 3% for the sixth straight day.
At the moment, the doubling rate of cases in the city is 633 days, and the overall growth rate of cases is down to 0.11%.
At the state level, there are six districts which have a positivity rate of over 10%, and the weekly average case growth rate is 0.22% and the doubling rate is now up to 322 days.
Meanwhile, at the state level, the rate of recovery rose to 95.5% and active cases dropped further to 1.5 lakh, of which 18,065 were in Mumbai.